To Aru Majutsu no Yogeh
by anand891996
Summary: Touma is quite the accident prone person. What if one such accident left him severely injured, forcing an unexpected aspect of Imagine Breaker's powers into surfacing, and dragging along someone else for the ride? Better summary inside. Gamer/SI fic.
1. Arc 1:Welcome to Academy City

**To Aru Majutsu no Yogeh**

 **Right. So I recently read The Gamer (And a lot of fics in multiple universes using the gamer template). So, I thought it would be interesting to have Touma be replaced by a gamer.**

 **So. The basic premise is that Touma got hurt real bad. He almost dies in fact. However, an unexpected part of IB kicks in, healing his body, but too late to save his mind completely. To prevent itself from being stuck in a vegetable of a body, IB drags another poor soul along for the ride, someone from a different time with a slight foreknowledge of events to come...**

 **EDITED 27/07/17. Credits to rahul96mohan for helping me edit the chapter of minor grammatical errors. Though the cretin hasn't watched the series, he IS a useful Grammar Nazi XD**

 ***Sigh* EDIT 10/08/17. Changed him to her. Don't know why it didn't change the first time around**

 **EDIT 17/07/17: Changed the last few lines to make it clear that it is an SI**

 **Also, I should have put this here instead of in chapter 5**

 **Disclaimer: Firstly, I own nothing. Secondly, This fic is heavily inspired by a fic in the same vein from the RWBY fandom called 'The Name of the Game'. So much so that the first five to six chapters will feel like rereading the first three chapters of that fic. While there is quite a lot of divergence later, much of the initial setup is the same. So, be warned. While I did talk to literalsin before putting this up, I am not sure he remembers the conversation.**

* * *

Chapter 1

I woke up to the sound of a curtain being drawn aside.

Eyes still closed, I noted the antiseptic tang in the air, a smell unique to hospitals and clinics across the world.

I opened my eyes, and looked around, confirming my location as a private ward in a hospital somewhere. There was a green curtain, which had been pushed aside, and someone who seemed to be a nurse, was setting up a small tray. My throat felt extremely scratchy and dry, so I opened my mouth to ask her for some water. Before I could make a sound, I noticed something exceptionally weird.

Floating above the nurse's head were words

 **Minagawa Inoue**

 **Nurse**

 **Lv 10**

I stared at the words, wondering if they were a concussion induced hallucination. Before I could think about it anymore, she noticed that I was awake.

"Ah! Kamijou-kun! Okitemasu ka!" She said.

I stared at her. _"Is that... Japanese? Why is a nurse in the middle of India speaking in Japanese?"_

 _Ding!_

Before I could fully register (and try to translate) what the nurse said, a semi-transparent blue box with white words appeared in front of me

 ** _[Importing Data from Save File...]_**

 ** _[Import Successful! Skill from previously saved data has been obtained!]_**

 ** _[Language Proficiency- Japanese(Passive)_**

 ** _Lv-30_**

 ** _This Skill allows you to understand and articulate yourself in the language Japanese. The higher the Skill level, the greater the speed at which you understand text and speech in Japanese.]_**

I stared at the blue box in front of me while the nurse got up and moved to pour some water from a jug into a glass. Noticing the small [X] at the top right corner, I jabbed a finger at it, causing it to disappear.

 _"What the hell? When did I learn Japanese? I mean sure, I picked a few words here and there, but Lv 30? Where am I? How did I end up here?"_

Closing my eyes, I focused inward to think. _"Okay. So what do we know? Firstly: I am in a hospital. Secondly: I appear to be in Japan based on the nurse's First response. Thirdly..._

 _Ding!_

 _[Alert: A skill has been created due to a special action! By turning your focus inwards, you have created the skill **Contemplate!]**_

 ** _[Contemplate- Lv-1 (Active)_**

 ** _Through continuous inner focus, a skill to order thoughts and increase the clarity of mind and awareness of body was created. Passive effect: +20% VIT,INT,WIS. Active Effect: +100% HP Regen, MP Regen]_**

Sighing quietly, I reached out to close the boxes before returning to my... contemplation

 _Ding!_

 _[ **Contemplation's** Skill Level has increased by 1!]_

 _"Oh for God's sake! I get it! Thirdly, I seem to be having an extremely realistic hallucination of my world becoming a game!"_ I fumed internally while jabbing at the [X] to close the box.

By this time, the nurse had finished filling out the cup, and held up the cup along with a straw to my lips for me to drink. Giving her a grateful look, I eagerly sipped at the water through the straw. Against all hope, the text above his head remained.

 _Ding!_

 _[Alert: A skill has been created due to a special action! Observing someone or something for a prolonged period has created the skill **Observe**!]_

 ** _[Observe_**

 ** _Lv-1_**

 ** _Active_**

 ** _Through Continuous observation, a skill to observe objects, situations, and persons was generated allowing the user to quickly gather information. The higher the skill, the greater the detail of data]_**

After I finished my cup of water, my internal monologue continued

 _"Where am I? Did I get into an accident? How long have I been here? I need more information!"_

 _Ding!_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 ** _[Out of Depth: Gather Information!]_**

 _[You have woken to find yourself in a strange place under suspiciously vague circumstances! Investigate your surroundings and pump any surrounding people for information without tipping them off as to how clueless you are about your current scenario!]_

 _[Reward: 1000 EXP, answers, quest continuation. Failure: Frustration, Possible admittance to an asylum, quest continuation]_

 _{Accept/Decline}_

Staring at the dialogue box, I decided that this interface had a crappy sense of humor, and hit the accept button.

"Feeling better now?" The nurse asked.

Weird thing was, she was still speaking in Japanese. However, the words seemed to automatically translate themselves into English, like I had known the language for my entire life.

Deciding to see if I could reply in Japanese, I composed the sentence I wanted to articulate in my mind. Immediately, I knew the corresponding phrase in Japanese.

"Yes, Feeling better now" I replied in kind, throat still feeling slightly scratchy from lack of water.

"Alright then. The Doctor will come along in a bit to see you. If you need anything, just press on the button on your bedside" She said, and made to walk out of the room.

"Wait!" I called out bit desperately.

"Yes?" She asked.

"Where am I?" I asked

"Ah! You are in the district 7 hospital" She replied with smile.

 _"Well, that clears up so much"_ I thought to myself sarcastically, as the nurse walked out before I could ask any more.

Problem was, there was nothing in the room that could provide me clues. It was a purely standard hospital setup.

At that moment, the door slid open, and a man in a white coat stepped in.

T̸͕̫͑̃ͥͩ̕h̛̬̥͚͎̻̿̽̄̑̏ͨ͒̒̀e̸̳͔̬̯͇̖̻̥͋ͦ͌̈͝͠ͅ ̵͈͇̺͙͙̝͕̾ͭ͑ͩ̒H̶̞͈̭̪̦̪̟̏ͧ̐ͦ́̾̂̄ͅe̙̺̅ͬ̌̄́͞ă̭͙͙̹̟̖͎͖̖̐̚v͐ͮ͟҉̣͎͉̲͓ḛ̵͔̝͎̦̟̠̰ͣ̔̄͊̈̏͛̋͗́͢ṋ̢͇͕̦͌͛ͧ͢ ̵͉͚̜̗̪͔̳̯̹̊͋̑̚C̸͕̟͕̩̭͙ͥ̑́͐̿ͨ̏a̶̗̠̼̻͓͕̞̜ͪ̐̿͗͌͡n̛̩̪̣͎ͤ̑̀̌̆c̡̣̩̻͍̳̜̰͆͒͋̅ͨ̚eͪ̂̐̍͑̓͏̝̻̤̠͈͇̠l͚̺̤ͫͤ̊̃̿̅̈̌ͣl͉͈͋̋̓̔̕e̛̼̯̘͚̟̫̩ͫ̉͒̔̅̚͜r̴̥̺̞̰ͫ̽

̳̜̱͖̬̻̮̤̇ͤ͆̾͘?͓͉̜̙̦̓͂̅ͬͭͩ?̌ͣͤ͆̅ͧ̚҉̮͓͈?̻͉͔͍͓͕͎̏ͪ̓ͬ̏̂?̷̴̭͙͔̝̣̰̦͑͛̚?̢̲͈͕̗̻̼͓ͮ̈́ͨ̑ͣ́͠?̵̭̳̩̜͉̈́̈́̅ͭ̄?͍̗͉̠͔̼̊̊ͭͦͧ͘͢͝

 _"Ow! My brain"_ I thought as I winced. Trying to focus on the man's name earned me another pickax to the brain.

"Ah! Kamijou-Kun! You are awake!" The man said "How do you feel ?"

"Umm... I don't know? No pain for sure..." I said

"Hmmm... yes, there was not much damage physically as such... Hmmm" The doctor said, eyes glazing over as his thoughts went inward.

Silence reined for a bit. I then asked "What happened? Where am I?"

"Ah!" He said, flinching slightly, "I was lost in thought. What did you say?"

"What happened? Where am I?" I ask again.

"Ah, you were brought in by Misaka-san yesterday" the doctor said "Apparently, you tried to save her from a bunch of goons trying to hit on her, not knowing what she is, and ended up being beaten up for your efforts"

"Misaka...san?" I asked.

"The Railgun" He said.

"Railgun?" I asked, still confused.

"One of the seven Level five espers", He said.

 _"Aaaaand I am still confused",_ I thought to myself.

Thankfully, the doctor didn't notice my confusion as he had already started to make his way out of the room. "You will most probably be discharged later today, since you seem to be more or less fine, except for the fact you were unconscious", he said as he walked out. I stared at the door, trying to figure out what to do next.

 _Ding!_

I jumped a little at that, before glaring at the blue box in front me.

 _[Quest Out of Depth: Gather Information, failure! You were unable to gain sufficient information about what is happening to you!]_

I jabbed at the box irritably, causing it to close.

A few seconds later, I hear a couple of people talking outside my room. I strain my ears trying to hear what is being said

 _Ding!_

 _[Alert: A skill has been created due to a special action! By trying to focus on a source of sound, you have created the skill **Listen** ]_

 ** _[Listen_**

 ** _Lv-1_**

 ** _Active_**

 ** _Through focusing on sounds, a skill to pick up distant or quiet sounds, or specific sounds out of a crowd was created. Passive effect: increases basic listening by 50%. Active effect: increases range and clarity of listening by 150%.]_**

 _"Okay, that is going to get irritating fast"_ I thought. Before I could focus again on what was being discussed outside my door, it opened, and through it entered a young girl with light brown hair, and darker brown eyes. She was dressed in a school uniform straight out of a stereotypical Japanese anime- an extremely short skirt, a brown, sleeveless sweater one over a white, short-sleeve shirt. My eyes were drawn to the words above her head though.

 **Mikoto Misaka**

 **The Railgun**

 **Lv- 97**

My eyes widened a bit at her supposed level before I tamped down on the reaction.

"Ah! Baka-kun! Awake finally?" Mikoto said.

"Baka-kun?" I asked, bemused.

"Yes, Baka-kun, because firstly, I never found out your name before you went and got yourself knocked out in a single blow, and secondly, because you thought that those goons were an inconvenience to me when I was merely humoring them.

 _Ding!_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 ** _[Out of Depth: Pumping Misaka-chan for information!]_**

 _[Now that you have a human your age to talk to, perhaps you can get a few more answers?]_

 _[Reward: 1000 EXP, answers, increased closeness to Mikoto Misaka, quest continuation. Failure: Frustration, Possible admittance to an asylum, decreased closeness to Mikoto Misaka, quest continuation]_

 _{Accept/Decline}_

My eye twitched in irritation at the offending box in my line of sight.

"Oye? Are you alright there?" Mikoto asked, looking at me concernedly.

Shaking my head slightly, I said "The doctor wasn't particularly clear. How did I end up here? And who are you?"

Mikoto raised an eyebrow. "You don't remember what happened last night?", she asked.

"Ummm...No? I actually don't remember much of anything. Was I hit on the head?" I asked, praying that whomsoever's body I was in had actually been hit on the head.

Mikoto looked mighty amused at that. "You were hit on the head, as a matter of fact."

 _"Yessss! Excuse found!"_ I crowed internally.

"And that is funny because...?" I asked leadingly.

Mikoto snorted. "You didn't even last ten seconds before one of the goons snuck up behind you and hit you on the head with a crowbar.", she replied," You came in all gallant and chivalrous, and ended up the worse for it. Thank goodness I wasn't an actual damsel in distress, else it would've been the worst sort of rescue"

I stared at her when she said that. While she seemed like a decently athletic girl, it didn't change the fact that she was young, with little to no muscle visible to explain her taking on a bunch of goons. Come to think of it, what was I thinking when I went to confront them! I didn't have much in the form of bodily strength or reflexes!.

Mikoto blushed under my scrutiny. "What are you looking at!", she snapped.

"I was wondering if you were hiding a gun somewhere", I said.

"A gun?", she asked, confused, "Why would I have a gun?"

"Because you are small slip of a girl who apparently took on a bunch of what I am assuming were half a dozen older boys on your own?", I said.

"Oh, Right! I never introduced myself! I am Misaka Mikoto! Nice to meet you!", she said, giving an expectant look.

"And...?" I said.

Her eyes widened in surprise. "You don't know who I am?", she said.

"I don't know who _I_ am", I said. "I don't remember _anything!"_

 _"Please buy it!"_ I thought, hoping for the best.

"Amnesia? From the headshot?", she asked.

 _Ding!_

 _[Alert: A skill has been created due to a special action! By successfully lying to Mikoto, you have created the skill **Bluff** ]_

 _[ **Bluff**_

 ** _Lv 1_**

 ** _Active_**

 ** _Through the act of lying, a skill for creative use of mistruth and misdirection was created. Active effect: Increases the likelihood of deceiving others, either through words or actions]_**

 _Ding!_

 _[ **Bluff's** level has increased by 1!]_

"How would I know?", I snarked back, jabbing at the boxes to close them.

"Right. I will be right back", she said, and started to get up.

 _"Goddammit!"_ I thought, punching at the close button on the dialogue.

"Why are you punching at the air?" Mikoto asked.

"You can't see that?" I blurted out.

"See what?", she asked.

"Ummmmm... Okay, this may sound weird, but have you ever played any games? Like RPGs?", I asked.

"Yes? A bit? I know the basics", she replied

"I have a confirmation dialogue right over here", I said, tracing the box with my hands.

Mikoto frowned. "You remember games, but don't know your own name?"

"I know, right? Weird stuff.", I said.

"And what do you mean by a 'confirmation dialogue'? There is some sort of screen in front of you?", she asked, peering at me interestedly.

"You don't seem to be dismissing what I say. That worries me a bit", I said, eyebrows raised at her lack of scoffing and skepticism.

"You _are_ in Academy city you know", she said.

It was then the dots connected. Misaka Mikoto. The Railgun. espers.

 _Academy City?!_

 _Ding!_

 _[Quest Pumping Mikoto-chan for Information complete!]_

 _[1000 exp gained!]_

 _Ding!_

 _[You have gained 1 level! You now have 5 stat points]_

 _Ding_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[ **Shhhhhhh!** ]_

 _[Academy city is the world's largest science experiment, of which you are now a part of. Prevent your abilities as The Gamer from being discovered by the powers that control the city, while discovering their aims, and thwarting any and all nefarious plots!]_

 _[Rewards: ? EXP, freedom, possible harem. Failure: ? EXP, Life as a Guinea Pig, No harem.]_

 _"What the actual fuck!?"_ , I thought, _"How on earth did I end up in Academy city? "_

 _"Wait just one second"_

"Do you know my name?", I ask Mikoto.

"Well, your ID card said that your name was Kamijou Touma", she replied.

I blinked once. Another time. Then a few more.

 _"WHAT?! I mean, I love the Index series, but actually **living** as Touma?! Are you effin kidding me?!"_

I stared at Mikoto for a couple of seconds, trying to come up with a phrase that would appropriately sum up my feelings to my current situation.

 _"You know what, Touma was right"_

"FUKOU DA!" I said out loud.

* * *

 **And the ride begins XD**

 **To those who read my other story, well... It will not be updated frequently. Neither will this for that matter, expect sporadic updates, more so on the other fic. I started that one without anticipating just how _tight_ the timeline was, which messed up my plotline. Thus, is undergoing a lot of revision**


	2. Arc 1: Finding my Feet

**Chapter 2**

For a few moments after I connected the dots, and found out my (apparent) name, I felt a curious sense of calm and clarity wash through me, washing away the oncoming sense of panic I was feeling. Before I could think about it further, Mikoto interrupted my thoughts.

"So, you were saying something about dialogue boxes?", she prompted.

I flinched minutely, and looked up at the dialogue box in front of me. It didn't give me an option to refuse the quest, and was worded vaguely too.

 _"Hmmmm... It says the powers that control the city..."_ I thought. _" And if all of this is not a dream or a hallucination, having the help of one of the most powerful espers would never hurt"_

"Yeah. I have been getting updates about skills and such ever since I woke up." I said, making a decision.

"Hmmm? That's interesting. Sure you aren't just hallucinating?" Mikoto asked.

Hmmmm... If my life were a game, some commands were universal. Like...

"Bag!" I intoned.

Nothing happened.

"Were you trying... to open the game's inventory?" Mikoto asked, looking highly amused.

I scowled at her briefly, before trying again.

"Inventory!"

 _"Success!"_ I thought as a window popped up in front of me showing a scale model of what I assumed was my body surrounded by several individual boxes. The body showed me in my current state of dress- or rather, Touma Kamijou in his hospital gown. Below it were rows of boxes.

 _"How do I put stuff in now?"_ I thought. _"Hmmmm... If I were an obnoxious game designer with an emphasis on a tactile interface..."_

I picked up one of the extra pillows on my bed, and pushed it at the window. The moment it made contact, The window rippled like water, and the pillow disappeared.

Mikoto's jaw dropped.

There was now an icon in the first box in the rows below the body model. Tapping on it opened up a window.

 _[Pillow: A plain white pillow. It is over-starched and scratchy. 500¥]_

"That actually worked?" Mikoto said, incredulous, as I reached back into the inventory and deposited it back on the bed.

"Still think I am hallucinating?" I asked her, smirking.

"What level are you" she asked.

"Ummmm...wait a sec. Summary?" Nothing happened. "Stats? Ah ha!"

[Name: T̷̨͞͏a͏̴͝o͘͟͢͜͡n̴͘m̴͟͡ą̕͡y̴͘͠ ̵̨̡Ḱh̴̡̡͝a̴̢̛͘r̀͠m̸̨̨͢͝i̧͘͏j̵̢̕͟o̡͠u͟͢]

[Class: The Gamer]

[Title: T̶̷̴͢͞h̡̛͟͠e͜͜ ̸̧́͢͟T̶̡r̵̶͟͠͏a̷̕҉͝v̸̷̨́͘e̷̡l̢͞l̶̶̶̨e̴̢͡ŕ̷͟] (Lv MAX)]

[Level 2]

[EXP: 0/2000]

[HP 200/200]

[MP 490/490]

[STR: 10]

[DEX: 10]

[VIT: 10]

[INT: 10 (39)+]

[WIS: 10 (36.4)+]

[CHA: 10 (26)+]

[LUK: 10(0)+]

[Points: 5]

[Money: 0¥]

"Ow, my brain", I said, wincing. I tried looking at my name or title, but that just caused another ice-pick to the brain, just like that doctor's name from before.

Deciding to think about that later, I looked at my stats. If I was reading it right, something was modifying my INT, WIS and CHA scores. Tapping the plus icon on the INT score opened up a new box.

[INT: 10 (33): ((10+20)+30%) -]

Huh. Where were the bonus skill points coming from? I had _skills?_

"Skills?" I said. Upon not getting a response, I tried again "Abilities?"

[ **Gamer's Mind** (Lv MAX) (Passive): Allows the User to calmly and logically think through things. Grants a peaceful state of mind. Grants Immunity to psychological effects]

[ **Gamer's Body** (Lv MAX)(Passive): Grants the User a body that allows him to live the world as a game.]

[ **Imagine Breaker** (Lv MAX) (Passive): A strange power with unknown limits, capabilities and purpose. It allows for the negation of all effects and modifiers on any object or person outside of the user's body when touched by the user's right arm. Generates a LUK penalty of 100 points ]

[ **The Traveler's Experience** (Lv MAX)(Passive): As a traveler from a different time, you see and understand things differently from the people of this time. Grants the Title: The Traveler, and allows for importing of skills, levels and stats from previous save data]

[ **Language Proficiency- Japanese** (Passive)(Lv-30):This Skill allows you to understand and articulate yourself in the language Japanese. The higher the Skill level, the greater the speed at which you understand text and speech in Japanese.]

[ **Contemplate** (Active)(Lv-2) Through continuous inner focus, a skill to order thoughts and increase the clarity of mind and awareness of body was created. Passive effect: +20% VIT,INT,WIS. Active Effect: +100% HP Regen, MP Regen]

[ **Listen** (Active)(Lv-1):Through focusing on sounds, a skill to pick up distant or quiet sounds, or specific sounds out of a crowd was created. Passive effect: increases basic listening by 50%. Active effect: increases range and clarity of listening by 150%.]

[ **Bluff** (Active)(Lv-2):Through the act of lying, a skill for creative use of mistruth and misdirection was created. Active effect: Increases the likelihood of deceiving others, either through words or actions]

I paused on the fourth one, and read it through again, just to make sure I understood what exactly it was saying.

 _"Previous save data my ass, that's my life you are talking about!"_

Going back to the stats window, I expanded the LUK score

[LUK: 10(0): (10-100)]

Well. That sucked. I wondered how that would translate to real world scenarios.

"Find anything?" Mikoto asked, bringing me back to the present.

"Yeah" I groused, closing the skills window. I was thus surprised to see that my title was now readable, and had resolved itself into 'The Traveler'. My name still hurt to look at though, but I could ignore it. Tapping on the title brought up details.

[Titles]

[ **The Traveler** : Grants a 10% bonus to INT, WIS and CHA scores as a result of experience gained in a previous save. Grants use of knowledge beyond this save]

 _"For God's sake, stop referring to my life as a save!"_ I thought to myself, before expanding on my answer to Mikoto. "Apparently I am at level 2, which makes me wonder how I can see your level at all, and a few skills" I said.

Mikoto froze. "You can see my name and level?" She asked.

"Well...yeah, and the levels of everybody around. Why?" I asked.

"Why wouldn't you be able see my level if you can see everybody else's" she asked curiously.

"Because, according to this, you are 95 levels above me" I replied.

"Oh! Ohhhh!" she said "That's the in-game level then, not my Academy City level. So this...power assigns levels to people huh."

"Looks like it. I don't know what my level was before this" I said, even though I knew perfectly well that Touma was a level zero. Well, he certainly wasn't one now.

"Hmm...So you don't remember people and stuff but you remember popular references and systems." she said. "That's weird"

"This whole situation is weird..." I said.

"Thing is, you weren't hurt that badly. Not enough for you to get memory loss. Initially, I thought you _had_ been hurt, because there was a lot of blood, but when I gave you a look over, there was no wound. Not even a lump" Mikoto said.

 _"Hmmm... was that when the Gamer kicked in? Maybe it's a life saving measure of Imagine Breaker. But then, what am_ _ **I**_ _doing here"_ I thought.

Thing was, even if I wanted to, could I go back? I had had a life before this. Not a very long one, but I had parents, brothers and cousins. I could remember scenes, but for the life of me, I couldn't remember names or faces. Worst of all, it didn't bother me at all. I could feel the horror of mental manipulation at that level, but I couldn't bring myself to _care_. It didn't matter somehow. I was here now, and there wasn't anything I could do to get back.

 _"Ah, fuck it. Whatever I left behind couldn't have been too important if I can't remember anything. I am here now, and there is nothing I can do to go back. There are things that need to be done here, and with what I know- however hazy it is- I can maybe make a difference. Even if I don't know the end game"_

 _Ding!_

 _[System Alert:_ _ **Synchronization**_ _at 50%! Stability Achieved! Beginning error checking and debugging]_

 _[Enter Character Name:]_

Huh. Looks like I am being forced to choose now. " _Fine, I've made my decision"_

 _[Touma Kamijou]_

 _[You have selected 'Touma Kamijou' as your character name. Are you sure?]_

 _{Yes/No}_

Upon hitting 'Yes', the Window disappeared, and went back to my stats page. My name was no longer a headache inducing jumble of font. Looking at my INT score and MP a bit of quick math had me figuring that every point of INT gave me 10 MP, with the same being said for my HP in relation to my VIT.

"What did you just do?" Mikoto asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"Trying to find out what this thing can do, and if my skills could explain why I am apparently unhurt from a crowbar to the head" I said, conveniently omitting the rest.

 _Ding!_

 _[_ _ **Bluff's**_ _level has gone up by 1]_

 _"Will you stop doing that!"_ I fumed internally before turning back to Mikoto and saying "Apparently I have a skill called Gamer's body, which I assume gives me a body which doesn't take physical damage permanently, instead, my HP will go down."

"That...is incredibly useful. and cheating" She said. I didn't disagree, not being able to take permanent damage was a huge advantage.

Instead of replying, I tried something else.

"Settings" I said. To my mild surprise, it worked.

 _[Settings]_

 _[Interface]_

 _[Commands]_

 _[Sound]_

 _[Difficulty]_

Curious, I tapped the Difficulty setting.

 _[Difficulty: Legendary]_

Almost unsurprisingly, the option to change it was grayed out and couldn't be changed. Well, life was a bitch that way. Besides, aren't games the best at the highest setting?

Closing that, I moved to sound, where I found I could disable notification sounds. I jabbed at it viciously, garnering a curious look from Mikoto.

"What was that?" she asked.

"I have been getting notification sounds. An irritating Ding!. And I just disabled it" I said, smirking triumphantly.

While she looked on with an amused expression, I moved down on the list and found an option for BGM, which I quickly enabled. As a veteran gamer quickly learned, BGM was in important indicator to the mood of a scenario, and helped in predicting boss battles and important conversations. After that, I moved to the Commands section.

 _"Now this is what I am talking about"_ Contained in the Commands section were commands—every voice-activated command for every option available at the moment, separated by use. For instance, skills such as Listen and Observe were listed under the 'Skills' section, which was itself a command to bring up the Skills window. Smirking, I skimmed the list for need-to-know information—I could get into the minutiae later. I struck gold immediately with several common commands such as Transparency, Party, Map, and Minimap. Two quick whispered commands later, I had a minimap displayed in the bottom right corner of my field of vision and a larger, more detailed map of my current surroundings—specifically, the floor plan for the hospital, by level.

Checking the map itself, I found drop down menus to change the map view from local to area, switching from the interior of the hospital to that of Academy City. Another selection allowed me to switch from the city to the continent. Shrugging, I switched back to the city-wide map and studied things over for a moment before closing it. A look at my minimap showed the interior of the hospital, but as with the full-sized map it could be toggled to show the local area of the city within a few block radius. Another option toggled icons: waypoints, friendly characters, party members, quests, quest-relevant characters, even enemies. I enabled everything except friendly characters after testing it once to see what it did—having NPCs show up all over my minimap would clutter it up if it showed every nearby person.

" _Though I probably shouldn't call them NPCs now that I thought about it, They weren't mindless automatons, they (Probably) are real people._ " I thought.

All this time, Mikoto had been looking at me patiently as I put up my preferred settings.

"Done customizing?" she asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her "How did you know that's what I was doing?" I asked.

"Isn't that the first thing a Gamer does in a new game?" she replied.

Fair enough.

The door opened again, and the Doctor with the fucked up name walked in.

"Kamijou-kun! ready to be discharged, hmm?" he asked. Behind him, Mikoto started to say something, but I cut her off

"Yes. Definitely yes. There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with me per se, so.." I said.

"I will explain later" I mouthed at Mikoto when the doctor turned around.

She frowned, but didn't say anything.

* * *

"So, you said you'd explain" Mikoto said a couple of hours later, after the discharge formalities were complete. I found myself with an ID card, a uniform, a wallet with some cash and a few cards, and a mobile phone.

 _"Kamijou-kun...Why are you so poor?"_ I thought as I looked at the, even by my standards, archaic phone. It had a number pad for God's sake, and this was supposed to be twenty to forty years in the future!

I sighed, and then said "I seem to remember most stuff, it's only the short-time memory that is screwed up. If it doesn't get better in a few weeks, I will just come back. Besides, amnesia doesn't have a cure"

Mikoto scowled at me. "You don't remember your name, address, birthday, and countless other important things, and you expect to be fine? You shouldn't take such a ris-"

"Listen, we'll exchange numbers. If I run into any trouble, I will contact you, and you can take me to the hospital, deal?" I said, cutting her off before she could convince herself that taking me to the hospital was a good idea.

She looked at me suspiciously, and said, "How can I know that you will call me if you get into any trouble? You could be doing this just to get me off your back"

Well, she wasn't wrong. But still.

"Okay, then I will call you every day for the next week, just to check in. If I don't, you can drag me to the hospital, deal?" I asked.

She continued to look at me suspiciously, but her (much better) phone, and asked "What is your number?"

After exchanging numbers, we went our separate ways. I needed some privacy to test out what I thought would be interesting aspects of my new powers, so I didn't immediately go to the address on my ID card.

Something told me that the next few weeks were going to be interesting...

* * *

 **Here is chapter 2. Which came out in a burst of inspiration.**

 **Yogeh means game. The title translates to "A Certain Magical Game". Yogeh is used to refer to console type or PC games from what I read. I could be wrong though.**

 **Mikoto-Touma pairing? haven't thought of pairings, Mikoto was just a convenient person to link Touma too, as he _did_ try an help her a few months before everything started.**

 **Also, some text was missing last chapter, not much, 100 or so words. Basically the text pertaining to the quest and a little more**


	3. Arc 1: Daylight Robbery

After Mikoto left, The first thing I did was remove the contents of my wallet and shove them into the Inventory. No need to risk being pick pocketed.

After that was done, I started going through my minimap options in more detail. Zooming out, I could see several green dots with green circles around them.

 _"I wonder what those are",_ I thought as I walked towards the one closest to me.

A couple of minutes later, I was looking at a cylinder on wheels

 **Service Bot**

 **Lv 10**

"Observe" I whispered

 **Service Bot**

 **LV 10**

[HP: 1200/1200]

[MP: 0/0]

[STR: 40]

[DEX: 18]

[VIT: 25]

[INT: 20]

[WIS: 5]

[CHA: 5]

[LUK: 5]

[A city service bot responsible for surveillance and maintenance of city order and cleanliness. It supplements the Anti-Skill and Judgment forces, and are programmed to respond to orders from Anti-Skill officers of appropriate rank]

[Status: Scanning for disturbances]

 _"Huh. That is quite a lot of detail for a level 1 ability. I wonder what will happen if I level it up...Maybe more detail? or will I be able to see the details of higher level characters?"_ I thought as I idly read through the information provided.

I continued strolling through the city, intent on finding a spot where I could experiment a bit with my new abilities, and spamming observe on everything I could see. I also experimented on how much volume was required for me to activate a command. Sub-vocalizing it worked, but thinking a command didn't. By the time I reached a park an hour later, Observe had reached level 5.

As I neared a bench to sit down and start going through my minimap to find if there was any interesting place to visit, I got another Skill alert.

 _[Through a special action, a new skill_ _ **Perception**_ _has been created]_

 _[_ _ **Perception**_ _(Lv 1)(Passive): A skill to increase attention to detail , adjust to changes in environment, increase your overall attention to your surroundings, and detect hidden items, places, people or enemies was created while trying to navigate. Effect: Increases stealth detection by 100%, Increases hidden object detection by 100%, increases combat awareness by 100%, increases terrain navigation by 100%, adds new points of interest to minimap. Range:100m]_

 _"Huh. That is a useful skill. Probably works in conjunction with Observe and the minimap",_ I thought.

Dismissing the notification, I zoomed out of the map, looking for the closest library I could find. I needed to find out more about the city and it's circumstances, as vague memories of a serialized anime series wasn't enough for such things.

According to the map, the closest library to me was the District 7 Central library. Convenient.

 _"I need a way to bring up my STR, VIT and DEX scores. Hmmmm...The standard way to do that would be exercise..."_ I thought, looking up the distance on the map between the library and my current location. It showed up as five kilometers.

I debated using the bus for a second, then decided to walk to the place instead. I could level up both Perception and Observe that way.

 _[WIS has gone up by 1!]_

I rolled my eyes at the notification, and started my walk to the library.

* * *

Another hour later found me at the entrance of the Central Library for the District. I continued to spam Observe on everything and anything, driving home just _how_ weak I was compared to everyone around me; The lowest level I saw was 5, and it was that of a five year old kid.

 _"Though judging by the rate of growth of the current active and passive skills, that sense of weakness won't last long"_ I thought as I walked into the library. During my walk here, Observe's level had gone up once more, and Perception by four levels.

The mimimap updated to display the Library's interior- a multi-story affair with a computer lab, records room, and more. Looking up, I spotted a few cameras and my maps helpfully updated to mark their positions and fields of view. In addition, there was a security guard standing by the door, along with two librarians patrolling the floor ostensibly to help patrons. Already, I could see where the holes were in their security. Smiling at a girl working at the counter, eliciting a blush, I walked into the stacks, where my map updated once more, helpfully showing which section was which. They were divided from left to right were fiction, which was divided between age groups, non-fiction, general, reference, religion and a section devoted purely to Esper Powers, further subdivided by subject.

Walking into the section, I again started spamming Observe on the books to see what their contents could be, and to level up Observe of course.

Among all the books I found one about the building of a personal reality, and how it was the core of an esper's power. Shrugging, I picked it up

 _[You have obtained the Skill book: Personal Realities and their Creation- A guide to the Budding Esper. Would you like to learn this ability?]_

 _{Yes/No}_

I stared at that notification.

 _"There are SKILL BOOKS?!"_ I thought incredulously.

This bore investigation.

Walking around the stacks with the book in hand, I found a table which was out of site of the cameras and near the back, away from the librarians and the guards. Looking around to make sure nobody was around to notice if anything happened, I tapped yes.

The book dissolved into motes of light, and I immediately got a deluge of notifications

 _[You have learnt the skill_ _ **Personal Reality**_ _]_

 _[_ _ **Personal Reality**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): One of the most basic aspects of mana manipulation, which allows your belief to override the natural order. This skill allows you to build mana manipulation techniques of one elemental affinity. Once the affinity is chosen, it cannot be changed. Leveling up the skill allows you to open more skill trees, and choose multiple affinities]_

 _[The entry_ _ **AIM**_ _has been added to the Journal]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Path of the Rogue (Part I)**_ _]_

 _[ By engaging in an act of petty larceny, you have taken your first step onto the path of becoming a rogue and a thief! Prove you have got what it takes by stealing five or more books without being caught!]_

 _[Rewards: 2000 EXP +250EXP per book over minimum, skill books, Quest Continuation. Failure: Loss of skill books, Possible jail time]_

 _[_ _ **Observe's**_ _level has increased by 1! Skill Books now register on_ _ **Observe**_ _!]_

Looking through the pop-ups, I felt a wide grin stretching across my face. Getting up, I walked into a random section and started spamming Observe on the shelves. I came across the next skill book in the reference section, a book about mixed martial arts. Glancing at the minimap, I timed the cameras, and when there were no eyes on me, I quickly shoved the book into the Inventory

 _[Through a special action, a skill_ _ **Sleight of Hand**_ _has been created]_

 _[_ _ **Sleight of Hand**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): A skill which allows you to swipe objects without people noticing it happening. Effect: Decreases chances of detection when stealing an object by (DEX+CHA)%]_

 _[Through a special action, a skill_ _ **Skill Creation**_ _has been created]_

 _[_ _ **Skill Creation**_ _(Lv MAX)(Passive): A skill that allows you to create skills based on your base INT score. The higher the INT, the more powerful the ability generated.]_

Ok, this power was completely broken. Well, not completely, because I still had to grind up my stat points (Of which I had gained a grand total of 1 point of WIS up to now), but it had a lot of potential.

Browsing through the sections of the library, I came across another ten or so skill books, along with a few History books that looked like they could fill me up on the history gap between my last memory and the current time.

 _"Speaking of which, what was the date?"_ I thought, and moved over to the periodicals section to snag a newspaper. Glancing at the date, I decided that the tech I had seen up to now was unimpressive given the amount of time that had supposedly passed by.

 _"June 18_ _th_ _huh"_ I thought, trying to estimate how much time I had before things truly started heating up. I never paid attention to dates and times on the show, and was now regretting that habit.

 _"Eh, Let's take things as they come"_ I thought, giving a mental shrug, and went back to the stacks. Snagging a couple of books from the fiction section that looked interesting, I decided that I had had enough petty larceny for the day.

Picking up another interesting book from the fiction (Damn was the language proficiency helpful!), I moved to the checkout section, I smiled upon sighting the same girl I'd seen coming in. Her blush returned and I pretended I didn't notice as she cleared her throat and looked away, while I put my selection on the counter.

"Card?" She asked.

I hummed in thought, trying to think of an excuse not to show my card, which was currently in my Inventory.

"No...Can you look up my account by name?" I asked

"Sure, what... um what's your name?"

"Kamijou Touma" I said, remembering at the last moment to invert the first and last names. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why the Gamer insisted on giving everyone's first name first.

As she tapped away at the terminal, I thought occurred. So far, the only way I had found to grind my Charisma score was to interact with people. And of all interactions, Flirting seemed to have better results than everything else, however, so.. "What's _your_ name?"

"Sakura" the brunette in question murmured, doing her best to look like she was checking out books while I caught her stealing glances out of the corner of her eye.

"Any suggestions on good reading material?" I asked, figuring if she worked here, she probably had an interest in books.

The girl's demeanor changed, relaxing into something more confident as she began talking about a familiar, and it seemed much enjoyed, topic. "Well, the last decent book I read was one of the 'Ninjas of Love' series… oh! I see you already have one."

"Well, I tend to prefer…" I trailed off. I had read the description and the book sounded like a lengthy series of lemons stitched together by an overarching plot, at least according to Observe.

"Plot with your porn?" she finished, then suddenly seemed to realize what she'd said as her eyes went wide and her blush returned at a higher luminescence.

Laughing quietly, I looked around before leaning forward on the counter. "Just maybe. So… you enjoyed it, huh?"

"Maybe," she answered sheepishly, also looking around for listeners. Finding none, she finished scanning the last of my books into the Terminal before hesitating. After a moment of indecision, she reached for a stack of sticky notes on her desk and quickly scrawled out something I couldn't read from my angle. Opening the black cover to the book in question, she stuck the little yellow square to the inside and looked up to meet my brown eyes with her own honey brown and smiled. "You're all done here. I hope you enjoy it."

Collecting my books, I wished her a good day and made for the exit. As soon as I crossed the threshold, a veritable deluge of notifications popped up.

 _[Quest_ _ **Path of the Rogue (part I)**_ _completed! 16 additional books collected!]_

 _[You gain 6000 EXP]_

 _[Your level has increased by 1! You now have 10 stat points]_

 _[Your level has increased by 1! You now have 15 stat points]_

 _[_ _ **Sleight of Hand**_ _'s level has increased by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Sleight of Hand**_ _'s level has increased by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Sleight of Hand**_ _'s level has increased by 1!]_

 _[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! Stealing valuable skill books has created the skill_ _ **Steal**_ _]_

 _[_ _ **Steal**_ _(Lv 1 )( Active): A skill to Steal things that don't belong to you was created. Effect: takes an item that doesn't belong to you from someone else and adds it to your inventory. Combines with_ _ **Sleight of Hand**_ _where applicable.]_

 _[_ _ **Steal**_ _'s level has increased by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Steal**_ _'s level has increased by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Steal**_ _'s level has increased by 1!]_

 _[Due to repeated use of skills requiring dexterity, your DEX has gone up by 1!]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Path of the Rogue (Part II)**_ _]_

 _[Now that you've proven your larceny skills, you should learn what to do with goods you're looking to sell. Make contact with the roguish community to advance the quest.]_

 _[Rewards: 3000 EXP, contacts with the Underworld, unlocks Underworld trading, unlocks Underworld jobs.]_

Moving to a nearby bench, I sat down and began reading and closing the multitude of messages. So, to tally all of that, I finished the quest, leveled up, gained Steal as a new skill, got three levels each in Steal and Sleight of Hand, gained a point of DEX for practicing those, unlocked a new quest, _and_ potentially set myself up for some sort of villainous employment. Not bad for an afternoon's worth of work. However, my curiosity was eating away at me. Taking up 'Ninjas of Love' from its position sandwiched between two other books, I opened the front cover and read the sticky note.

 _Give me a call if you want to talk about the book… maybe over coffee?_

 _—Sakura_

Even as I smirked, I got a new deluge of notifications.

 _[CHA has increased by 1!]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[ **Kami the Harem God:** **T**_ _ **he Art of Love and War**_ _]_

 _[Scattered across the world are lots of lonely women in need of love. Do your part in satisfying these lonely women's desires by romancing six or more lovely ladies]_

 _[Rewards: EXP ?, lifelong love and companionship, more kinky sex than you can shake a stick at. Failure: No EXP, no love, crushing loneliness, no kinky sex]_

 _[A quest has been updated!]_

 _[ **Kami the Harem God**_ _ **: The Sexy Librarian**_ _has been unlocked!]_

 _[You've been propositioned by a sexy librarian to get together for a cup of coffee and a conversation about your shared interests—namely, erotic literature. Read 'Ninjas of Love: Volume I' and set up a date with Sakura]_

 _[Rewards: 1000 EXP, skill(s), potential kinky sex, potential friend with benefits, unlocks special mode. Failure: no EXP, no skill(s), no kinky sex, no friend with benefits. Time limit: 3 days]_

I could feel the Gamer's Mind fighting to maintain my calm state of mind as I frantically dismissed the notifications, and fought at the embarrassment the new set of quests generated. In the end, Gamer's Mind won over my sense of embarrassment in the end by a narrow margin, keeping my face mercifully clear of a blush.

 _"Ok, that happened"_ I thought, deciding then and there that the CHA score was too dangerous to level up.

Shaking my head at the Gamer's sense of humor, I started walking to the nearest bus stop to get to my dorm based on the address on my card, idly noting that the sun was on the horizon, just about to set.

Just as I set a waypoint on my map, I felt it happen. Nothing in my surroundings changed, but I could feel a tension in the air, almost like an electric charge- something that I had come to associate almost unconsciously with magic.

 _[The sun has set, and you have been drawn into an_ _ **Illusion Barrier**_ _, a bubble caught between the waking and spirit worlds. Restless spirits created from the myriad of negative emotions are trying to manifest, and you will not be able to leave until the area has been cleansed]_

* * *

 **Welp, I am on FIIIRRRREEE!**

 **That should satisfy those wo are looking for the Kami-yan disease.**

 **Pairings will be undecided. Besides, I like the harem route**


	4. Arc 1: Entering the Twilight Zone

I stared at the notification for a second, panicking, before the calm of Gamer's Mind washed over me.

Looking around, I took stock of my surroundings. I was in the park just outside the Library. All the people around me had disappeared, though curiously, the bots and cars remained, even the ones that were moving on the road, though they looked like they had been frozen in place.

Seeing that nothing was in my immediate surroundings (despite the BGM having become sinister), I called up the Abilities window.

 _"Hmmmm...Would Imagine Breaker dissipate these...spirits?"_ I wondered. _"But I would have to get into close quarters with whatever it is that will be attacking me...best to have a backup plan."_

 _"Hmmmm...I have Skill Creation right? Maybe I should try something..."_ I thought, and focused on an idea that I had had for a while

 _[_ _ **Skill Creation**_ _Failed! An Elemental Affinity is needed to create skills that use Mana]_

 _"Huh?"_ I thought, bringing up Personal Reality as it was the only skill that mentioned Elemental Affinities. Doing that opened a new window.

 _[Elemental Casting Skill Tree]_

 _[To continue, Choose an Elemental Affinity]_

 _"Goddammit!"_ I thought, looking at the minimap nervously, scanning for the promised enemies _"I don't have the time for this!"_

I quickly scrolled through the (Thankfully) short list. _"The hell?"_ I thought as I looked at the list.

The elements listed were not the standard of Air, Water, Fire and Earth. Instead, there were the following.

 _[_ _ **Electricity:**_ _Allows you to manipulate the flow of electrons in any body. The greater the skill with this element, the greater the number of electrons that can be manipulated]_

 _[_ _ **Momentum:**_ _Allows you to manipulate the momentum of bodies of a certain minimum size. The greater the skill with this element, the smaller the size of particles that can be manipulated]_

 _[_ _ **Heat:**_ _Allows you to manipulate the entropy of a system. The greater the skill with this element, the more drastic the possible change in entropy]_

 _[_ _ **Gravity:**_ _Allows you to manipulate the Universal Constant of Gravitation over a limited area for a limited period of time. The greater the skill with this element, the wider the area affected]_

 _[_ _ **Dimensions**_ _: Allows you to manipulate and jump through dimensions. The greater the skill with this element, the more fundamental the dimension that can be manipulated]_

 _[_ _ **Light:**_ _Allows you to manipulate energy that is electromagnetic in nature. The greater the skill with this element, the greater the amount of energy that can be manipulated]_

 _[_ _ **Clairvoyance:**_ _Allows you to create skills that manipulate the mind. The greater the skill with this element, the stronger the effect of the skills used]_

 _"Okay, that plan is scrapped for now. I need to sit down and think about that. Ranged magical attacks shelved"_ I thought as I closed the windows.

Looking around desperately for something that could be a useful weapon, my eyes fell on a currently deserted shop that was at the intersection on the other end of the small park

 **Nagai Sports**

 _"For all your sporting needs"_

That would do.

Walking across, I suppressed the slight guilt at stealing something (After all, I had just stolen from the Library across, I justified), I entered the shop and looked for a weapon I could use. Something which could be the equivalent of a club or a mace...

 _"Or that baseball bat"_ I thought, hitting it with Observe

 _[_ _ **Baseball Bat**_ _]_

 _[An aluminum baseball bat. Causes STR*10 BLUNT damage to a target when used offensively. If the damage to the target is greater than 20*VIT of it target, Causes Internal Damage and gives the Status Effect_ _ **Internal Bleeding**_ _for living opponents. Internal Bleeding Status causes a 0.5*VIT damage per second. If the target's VIT is smaller than your combines STR+DEX score, it will be knocked down and stunned. A knocked down and/or stunned opponent gains the status_ _ **Helpless**_ _]_

That would have to do.

By the time I walked out of the shop, my opponent had turned up on the map, randomly lumbering about.

 _"I wonder what it is"_

I started jogging in the direction of the dot on my map. A minute or so of jogging along the sidewalk, I came across the enemy

 **Negative Spirit**

 **Lv 5**

The thing labeled as a spirit looked like a small dog. It was black, with white boney protrusions along it's body and around its chest, like a set of psuedo-ribs.

Hitting it with observe gave me a little more

[HP: 1000/1000]

[STR: 20]

[VIT: 15]

[DEX: 15]

[INT: 5]

[WIS: 5]

[CHA: 5]

[LUK: 10]

 _[A being formed from the negative emotions of those around it. It feeds on the negativity of others to grow stronger, and is thus drawn to negative thoughts, thought the opposite doesn't hold true]_

That was...interesting. It raised a lot more questions as to the nature of my powers if it caused such creatures to be visible. It was also not paying any attention to me, and was instead was sniffing around the tree a few meters ahead.

Taking care not to disturb any twigs that might be on the path, I slowly sneaked towards the spirit, hoping to get in a surprise attack.

 _[Through a special action, the skill_ _ **Sneak**_ _has been created]_

 _[_ _ **Sneak**_ _(Active)(Lv 1)_ _ **:**_ _A skill that allows you to avoid detection. It decreases your speed by 50% and chances of detection by 1*(Lv of_ _ **Sneak**_ _)%]_

A _one percent_ decrease?! Seriously? Was I that bad at sneaking?

Thinking about it, I tried to create a new skill, focusing on the idea.

 _[Skill Creation failed! Ability_ _ **Invisibilty**_ _requires Elemental Affinity_ _ **Light**_ _and INT of 100]_

Well. Drat. At least it didn't say that it was impossible.

I continued to sneak on the spirit, which remained completely oblivious to my presence. Did it even have ears? Or did it rely on negative emotions to detect people?

Shelving the thought for later as I neared the spirit, I raised the bat in preparation. When I was a couple of meters behind it, I let out a shout, jumping towards the spirit, and swinging with all my might.

The spirit finally showed a reaction, turning around. Before it could fully turn around, the bat crashed into its head, causing it to bounce of the floor.

Even as I watched it's HP go down fall by a far more than expected, a new set of notifications came up

 _[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to attack while concealed,_ _ **Sneak Attack**_ _, was created!]_

 _[_ _ **Sneak Attack**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): Effect: increases damage done to unaware enemies by 100%. Increase_ _ **Sneak Attack**_ _'s level to increase its damage.]_

 _[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! By rendering an opponent_ _ **Helpless**_ _, you have unlocked the skill_ _ **Coup de Grace**_ _!]_

 _[_ _ **Coup de Grace**_ _(Lv MAX)(Active): By rendering an enemy_ _ **Helpless**_ _, you unlocked the a skill to deal the finishing blow of a mercy killing,_ _ **Coup de Grace**_ _. Effect: all attacks against_ _ **Helpless**_ _enemies are now considered a_ _ **Critical Hit**_ _. If an enemy does not possess a discernible anatomy or is otherwise immune to_ _ **CRIT**_ _, all attacks against it instead do double damage]_

 _[Your WIS has gone up by 1]_

 _"Huh. 20% of its health lost in one hit, and two new skills? not bad, not bad at all"_ I hummed and decided to give Coup de Grace a try.

The spirit promptly exploded into smoke, which dissipated in all directions. at the same time, I got another alert, even as a new cluster of reds appeared on the minimap, along with one ominously larger one.

 _[You have gained 250 EXP]_

 _[Through a special action, the skill_ _ **Danger Perception**_ _has been created]_

 _[_ _ **Danger Perception**_ _(Lv 1)(Passive):The ability to sense danger is a natural survival instinct even the lowliest of animals possesses. Effect: allows the user to sense when the potential for danger is high in any situation and determine where that danger is coming from if applicable.]_

My new Passive told me that there were more enemies around than what I could see on the minimap. That basically told me that I had to find the high ground while I tried to get some ranged power, because there was no way I was going to defeat all of those with just a metal bat, however effective it was. Besides, with just two hits, it had deformed slightly, showing just how hard the spirit was in comparison to it

 _"I am sure there will be degradation in weapon health which decreases the damage it causes"_ I thought.

I fled in the direction away from the approaching spirits, searching for easily climbable tree before I became spirit chow.

* * *

 _[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! Running has created the skill_ _ **Run**_ _!]_

 _[_ _ **Run**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): A skill for running away from, or towards, danger or more mundane objectives has been created—_ _ **Run**_ _! Effect: increases your movement speed by ((STR+DEX)% for a number of minutes equal to your VIT score. Resting restores your stamina. Leveling_ _ **Run**_ _will allow you to run faster for longer periods of time before becoming exhausted.]_

I sighed exasperatedly at the notification, even as I panted due to my exertion. I climbed the tree in front of which I had stopped, praying that I didn't get another incessant notification for a new, pointless skill.

 _[Alert: A skill has been created due to a special action! climbing has created the skill_ _ **Climb!**_ _]_

I didn't even bother reading the skill description before I dismissed it.

In the meanwhile, by the time I had settled myself on the tree, the spirits that had been chasing me started milling around, searching for me. They didn't seem particularly bright, thankfully.

I brought up the elemental casting tree, as it was my best bet to creating a slew of ranged, easy to produce attacks.

The big question was, which element?

I immediately dismissed the element of Gravity. While the idea of modifying Gravity at a point to create a small singularity was amazing, I felt I didn't know enough about , and didn't have the patience to learn.

 _[_ _ **Importing Data from previous save file**_ _]_

 _[_ _ **Import Successful!**_ _]_

 _[_ _ **Preferred Element (Electricity)**_ _(Passive)(Lv 45): In depth knowledge electronic circuits and their behaviour allows you to create skills based on the element_ _ **Electricity**_ _much more easily! Effect: decreases the INT cost of creating skill with the element_ _ **Electricity**_ _by 45%! Increases Effects of_ _ **Electricity**_ _based skills by 23%]_

 _[_ _ **Preferred Element (Light)**_ _(Passive)(Lv 12): In depth knowledge of the behaviour of various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum under various conditions allows you to create skill using the_ _ **Light**_ _element much more easily! Effect: decreases INT cost of creating a skill using the element_ _ **Light**_ _by 12%! Increases effects of_ _ **Electricity**_ _based skills by 6%]_

 _[_ _ **Preferred Element (Momentum)**_ _(Passive)(Lv 20): In depth knowledge of the behaviour of elastic bodies allows you to create skill using the_ _ **Momentum**_ _element much more easily! Effect: decreases the INT cost of creating a skill using the element_ _ **Momentum**_ _by 20%! Increases effects of_ _ **Momentum**_ _based skills by 10%]_

Alright then. That made sense. Based on my hazy memories, I had been training as an electronics engineer before I found myself here. Welp, that narrowed down the choice to precisely one.

 _[You have chosen the element_ _ **Electricity**_ _]_

 _[Creation of Mana based skills now unlocked!]_

 _[Creation of skills using the element_ _ **Electricity**_ _now unlocked]_

Closing the notifications, I closed the skill tree, deciding to look into it later. I had a set of spirits to kill. I focused on the same skill I had tried to create before.

 _[Through a special action, the skill_ _ **Mana Bolt**_ _has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Mana Bolt**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): Releases a bolt of pure Mana. Causes INT*2 damage to the target and explodes on contact. percentage chance to_ _ **knock down**_ _or_ _ **stun**_ _the enemies in the target area based on your INT and their combined VIT and STR. If your INT is greater than the target's combined VIT and STR scores, 100% chance of_ _ **Knock Down,**_ _and if greater than combined INT and STR scores, 100% chance of_ _ **Stun**_ _. Causes area effect damage equal to 10% of the base damage of the attack. Weak against armored targets. Cost: 15MP, Range: 10m, Area: 2m, Speed: 36 km/h]_

Looking at the base of the tree, where three of the spirits were sniffing around, I prepared a mana bolt, and hurled it at the back of the spirit at the center. From what I had observed, not including stat bonuses that might apply to them, my INT was high enough to cause both stun and knock down, on all the enemies in the target area. Plus, given Sneak attack, One more should finish them off completely.

As expected, about a fourth of the central spirit's life drained off, and a small sliver of HP of the remaining were shaved off, and stunning all three. Preparing another couple of mana bolts, I finished them off with Coup de Grace, gaining another 750 EXP, and a level on Sneak Attack.

However, the explosion had alerted the other spirits, and another one, two three spirits were coming along to investigate according to the map. The big red dot kept its distance, which suited me just fine. I needed to figure out this shite anyway.

Now, If I could render my enemies helpless without having to use the Mana Bolt. Hmmmm...

Focusing on what I wanted, I tried again.

 _[_ _ **Skill Creation**_ _Failed! Elemental Affinity_ _ **Clairvoyance**_ _needed to create skill_ _ **Sleep**_ _!]_

Damn. That meant that all mental attacks were out. Well, Mana Bolt was noisy and flashy. I needed something more silent, and faster too. Time to get creative.

I grinned, pulling up my mana for the task. I started with a mana bolt, holding it in my hands for a moment as I examined it and thought it over. Finally, I had to stifle a laugh as I came to an obvious solution. _"It worked for Naruto. Let's put some spin on this thing and see what I get...'_

 _[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to damage enemies using a spinning ball of mana was created,_ _ **Spinning Mana Bolt**_ _!]_

 _[_ _ **Spinning Mana Bolt**_ _(Lv 1)(Active):_ _ **Spinning Mana Bolt**_ _was created by channeling your mana into a_ _ **Mana Bolt**_ _and then directing the mana to rotate violently. Effect: 20% armor or defense penetration, deals 600% of your INT worth of damage, minimum 4 second spin time but spin time can be increased to 10 seconds for added damage. Cost: 60MP base, 15MP/sec after 4 seconds. Range: 10m.]_

That… was not what I was looking for, but not entirely unexpected either. It would be getting renamed to 'Rasengan' later, for laughs. Deciding to give it another go, I tried again after allowing the first attempt to dissipate soundlessly, this time attempting to create something with more range and less of an explosive or knock down effect.

 _[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to damage enemies at greater range using mana was created,_ _ **Mana Arrow**_ _!]_

 _[_ _ **Mana Arrow**_ _(Lv 1)(Active):_ _ **Mana Arrow**_ _was created to damage enemies at a greater range than_ _ **Mana Bolt**_ _, by hardening mana into an elongated shape. Effect: damages the target for 100% of your INT modifier, piercing, 10x faster than_ _ **Mana Bolt.**_ _Cost: 8MP. Range: 20M. Speed: 360km/h]_

 _"Close, but not quite. But I already have the technique active, so let's try adding spin and see what happens..."_

 _[ [Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to penetrate enemy defenses at range using mana was created,_ _ **Spinning Mana Arrow**_ _!]_

 _[_ _ **Spinning Mana Arrow**_ _(Lv 1)(Active):_ _ **Spinning Mana Arrow**_ _, a long distance attack skill with increased penetration power, was created by adding strong spin to a_ _ **Mana Arrow.**_ _Effect: 20% armor penetration, deals 300% of your INT modifier in damage, 10x faster than_ _ **Mana Bolt**_ _. Cost: 8MP. Range: 20M. Speed: 360km/h]_

Looking over the technique, I hummed. This would work, but I felt like I could do better. _"Smaller, faster, more range…"_ With those thoughts in mind, I set about condensing the Spinning Mana Arrow _._

 _[Alert: A skill has been created through a special action! A skill to penetrate enemy defenses at even extreme range using mana was created,_ _ **Spinning Mana Bullet**_ _!]_

 _[_ _ **Spinning Mana Bullet**_ _(Lv 1)(Active):_ _ **Spinning Mana Bullet**_ _, an extreme range attack skill with increased penetration power derived from its condensed exterior layer and increased velocity, was created from_ _ **Spinning Mana Arrow!**_ _Effect: 50% armor penetration, deals 300% of your INT modifier in damage, 8x faster than_ _ **Spinning Mana Arrow.**_ _Cost: 10MP. Range: 250M. Speed: 2880km/h]_

 _[Your INT has increased by 1!]_

Sighting down on the spirit below me and adjusting my aim based on my results from Mana Bolt, I fired. The first Spirit's head exploded into smoke, bone fragments, and blood splatter followed a moment later by the rest of its body. Unfortunately, I hadn't considered just how loud what amounted to a magical .50 BMG round would be. The problem wasn't in the round firing, or hitting its target, it was in the fact that it _broke the sound barrier_ in flight—just like a real rifle round. And just like a real shot from a rifle, it would have even more enemies bearing down on me momentarily. Quickly dispatching the two remaining spirits and dismissing more EXP gain popups, I waited for the rest to arrive.

I counted ten more spirits in the immediate area. Sighting down my finger, I started spammming Mana bullets into the area. Approximately 30 shots and a fourth of my MP later, I gained another 2500 EXP, and two levels on Spinning Mana Bullet.

The Big Red Dot started moving towards me at this point. There were no other small spirits on the map, but if my gaming sense was right, the big meanie was coming right up, and would most probably start spawning smaller spirits.

 _"Well, Game On!"_ I thought, as I waited for the boss to come along.

* * *

 **Well, That's a wrap.**

 **Next chapter is the Boss Fight. Don't worry, these are _not_ random ideas I picked up from the Gamer and am copying into this. There is a very good reason for the existence of Illusion Barriers. Wonder if anyone will think of it.**

 **To the 10 or so people who are following this story, THANK YOU!**

 **Guest: Candice was Sakura's name originally, before I decided that it was too western. That error has been corrected. M rating? Nahh... most of the charachters are kids man, I would feel like a pedophile.**


	5. Arc 1: Boss Battle

**Forgot to add the disclaimer. Nothing is mine Folks!**

 **Also, credits to literalsin, whose fic 'The Name of The Game' heavily inspired this fic, and fantasinia, who was useful in providing cannon knowledge and bouncing ideas off (I haven't read most of the LN's)**

 **On with the chapter**

 **EDIT 01/08/2017: Minor edits, courtesy of Grammar Nazi JediKage96(previously rahul96mohan). Or the Grammar Shinobi as he prefers to be called *rolls eyes*.**

* * *

While the boss came a long, I gave a quick glance at my Mana regen rate, compared to my WIS score.

 _"So, WIS times mana per minute... which gives me a rate of approx 30 MP per minute regen normally, With a similar relation between VIT and HP regen. Should I level up Contemplate? it doubles the regen rate, giving me 1MP per sec..."_

I started climbing down the tree to face the boss man. While I could just blast at it from range, there was something important that needed to be tested. Namely, Imagine Breaker's effect on them. I was leery of doing it when there were spirits swarming me, but now that there was only one, even though it was more powerful, It was something worth seeing.

From what I remembered, it ought to one shot anything that was made of mana or created by an ability. It didn't block physical effects, like the projectile shot out of Mikoto's Railgun, but negated stuff like the lightning strikes and sparks that tended to be created by her.

I was still halfway up the tree by the time the spirit came to my position

 **Alpha Spirit**

 **Lv 15**

 **[HP: 5000/5000]**

The spirit, in addition to being larger than the members of the mob before it, also had a bony mask on its face. It looked more like a wolf than a pup, red eyes peering out hatefully from under the mask at me, growling at me menacingly.

It also was in the way of me getting off the tree. While I was high enough that it (hopefully) couldn't jump and reach me, it was also low enough that I felt that I could jump without significantly hurting myself, and given the Gamer's Body, I doubted that I would take any damage at all.

Mentally estimating the trajectory, I pushed myself of the branch I was holding onto, aiming for the right flank of the wolf-like spirit.

Unfortunately for me, It reacted to my movement, and instead of me grabbing onto it with both of my hands, my right hand clipped it before I landed in a painful heap on the ground. My HP tanked by about fifty points, a full fourth of my current HP, and I got a few new notifications, which I ignored for the moment.

The spirit did not immediately dissipate, to my profound disappointment. While Imagine Breaker had activated, going by the sound of breaking glass that was heard.

Instead, there was a furrow on the spirit's side where my hand had made contact with its body, and it had taken a sliver of damage.

 _"Huh. So they are affected by Imagine Breaker, but don't just dissipate on contact. So they are not a part of the natural order then, based on how I remember it being interpreted. But at the same time, they don't react to it the same way as other mana constructs"_

Before I could ponder on it anymore, the spirit howled, and charged me. I was able to get out one Spinning Mana Bullet before I was forced to roll out of the way. _"Definitely need to reduce the number of syllables for that one's voice command"_ I thought as I rolled away.

As the beast was turning around, I brought the baseball bat out of the inventory, gripping it in my right hand, while I fired another Bullet from my left, aimed at its foot so as to slow it down, backing away at the same time.

While the Spirit stumbled, I concentrated on creating a skill that I knew should be within the capabilities of my current affinity.

 _[Through a special action, the skill_ ** _Current_** _was created]_

 ** _Current_** _(Lv1)(Active): This skill allows you to channel a high current through your body, stunning any being within contact. It can also can be channeled through any conductor in contact with the user's body. Effect: Has a INT*(Affinity Level)*(Skill Level)/(Opponent's VIT) percentage chance of stunning a target. Causes (Skill Level)*10 damage. Increases the duration of_ ** _Stunned_** _effect on a previously stunned target.]_

 _[Congratulations! By creating a skill involving the element_ ** _Electricity_** _, you have unlocked the title_ ** _Electromaster!_** _Level up this title to gain greater benefits]_

Dismissing the notification, I charged the Spirit, activating my new skill. The bat made contact with the side of the beast's head as it swung it's claws, giving me yet another ignored skill notification, another 120 damage to me as the claws made glancing contact, and a loud _pop_ and a flash of light as a spark jumped between bat and the beast.

The next hit I made on the stunned beast activated Coup de Grace, shaving off about a fifth of the Spirit's HP, confirming its stunned status. Quickly shoving the bat back into the inventory, I brought my right hand down on the Spirit's head. Imagine Breaker activated with the sound of breaking glass, and my hand started to sink through the creature's mask, also continuously shaving the beast's HP, the rate at which it decreased increasing as my hand sunk deeper into the mask. Interestingly, contrary to my expectations, after the first sound during activation, Imagine Breaker worked silently. A few seconds later, before the beast could shake off the stunning effect of Charge, its HP reached zero, upon which it dissipated into black smoke. The moment it died, I got a slew of new notifications.

 _[You have defeated_ ** _Alpha Spirit_**

 _[You gain 7000 EXP!]_

 _[You have defeated a powerful_ ** _Grudge_** _, but it will return stronger…]_

 _[You have cleared the_ ** _Illusion Barrier_** _! You gain 5000 EXP! You may now leave at any time, but the_ ** _Illusion Barrier_** _will collapse in 5 minutes. Anything left inside at that time will be lost forever!]_

 _[Your level has gone up by 1! you have 20 stat points!]_

 _[Your VIT has increased by 1]_

I dismissed the notifications, and brought up the notifications I had ignored during the fight. I had apparently gained a passive for damage reduction from attacks called Physical Endurance, which at level one gave me a three percent reduction in damage from physical attacks, and a new proficiency for blunt weapons, currently at level 1. I had also gained another point of VIT, INT and WIS in the course of the fight, though for what I had gained which I couldn't be bothered to figure out. Dismissing the notifications, My attention was drawn to the remains of the Alpha Spirit. Or, more precisely, what was sitting in the middle of it.

 _"There are drops. There are FUCKING drops. How on earth does that even work?!"_ I thought as I stared at the small collection of items disbelievingly.

There was what appeared to be a skill book, along with a vial. Picking up the skill book generated a new dialogue.

 _[You have obtained the skill book Illusion Barriers! Would you like to learn it?]_

 _{Yes/No}_

Clicking on yes resulted in the creation of three new skills.

 ** _Create ID_** _(Lv 1)(Active): You have learned a skill to create instant dungeons out of bubbles of space between the real world and the spirit world. Effect: create an_ ** _Instant Dungeon_** _that will attract restless spirits. Leveling the skill will allow different types of enemies and environments with different properties to be created. Cost: 50MP.]_

 _"Haa… wow. Okay. So I can make these things intentionally now? Yeeeeah… I'm going to abuse the_ ** _shit_** _out of this."_ I thought as I continued onto the next dialogue

 ** _Escape ID_** _(Lv 1)(Active): You have learned a skill to escape or destroy Illusion Barriers. Effect: destroy or escape an Illusion Barrier. Some Illusion Barriers can neither be destroyed nor escapes from if the being or effect that created them is strong enough and must be resolved by destroying or disabling whatever is creating the barrier. Cost: 50MP.]_

 ** _Ward_** _(Lv 1)(Active): Allows you to ward against creation of IDs against your will. Cost: 50MP1MP/Min. Can be charged with a bulk amount of MP during casting for prolonged barrier that are independent of the caster. Allows for charging of previously cast Wards. The ward prevents creation of IDs up to two levels greater than its own level. Wards once cast don't level up with the skill. Radius: 20m]_

In other words, unless I leveled up Escape ID, I could be trapped inside an Illusion Barrier until I dealt with whatever was causing it—and even if I did level the skill, it appeared that it wouldn't always work. That was worrying, to say the least. Also, Ward needed to be leveled up if I wanted to sleep in peace, if what it was implying about Illusion Barriers being random was true. I wondered if anyone else could be pulled into Illusion Barriers.

Picking up the vial, I hit it with Observe.

 _[Healing Potion (Lv 8): A Healing potion that restores 50*(Potion Level) HP of the user. Works only on beings possessing the ability_ ** _Gamer's Body_**

Basically, that meant it was useful only to me. Shoving it into the Inventory, I shook my head, glancing ruefully at my HP, which was slowly rising from perilously low, and held up my hand, willing the Illusion Barrier around me to collapse. "Escape ID.", I intoned.

The world shattered, glass-like panes of illusion falling around my head and dissolving as though they'd never existed in the first placeThe scene around me resumed moving, with all the people around me appearing once more. I noticed that my location in the real world had not changed corresponding to my movements in the Instant Dungeon, momentarily disorienting me as I found myself back in front of the Library. It also did not seem like time had passed in the real world.

 _"That was a singularly terrifying experience"_ I thought, as I reset the waypoint for my dorm room. In fact, if it weren't for Gamer's Mind, I suspected I would be a gibbering wreck.

The resistance of the spirit's to dissipation by Imagine Breaker also raised worrying and interesting questions about the limits to its capabilities. While it was powerful, it couldn't be used against multiple enemies, and going by its effects on spirits, was more or less useless unless they were stunned and helpless.

Shaking myself of morbid thoughts, I made my way home. I needed a place to think, and set up a more or less permanent ward.

I unlocked and opened the door to my room. From what I remembered, Touma had lived in a single room, with no roommates, which was convenient for me.

Closing the door behind me, I sighed as my eyes fell upon the mess that the room was in. Ignoring it for the moment, sat on the bed, which was thankfully clear of clutter.

"Ward" I intoned, and sat back to observe it's effects.

A bubble exploded outward from me on the minimap, though there were no visible effects on the real world. It stabilized at what I assumed was the maximum possible radius. A dialogue opened, asking me if I wanted to add more mana to the ward, and the quantity to be added. I dumped my remaining mana into the ward, which amounted to roughly an eight hours of protection. I got a level up notification as soon as I did that, leading to me to the conclusion that the more mana I dumped into an active ward, the faster it gained levels. There was also a new marker on the minimap, which I assumed was the center of the ward, and the point at which I would be able to dump mana into it.

I activated Contemplate to boost my mana regeneration, and started browsing through the skill books I had 'liberated' from the library.

The first book I had picked up was about Mixed Martial Arts. I clicked Yes on the dialogue that came up.

 _[Learning this skill requires STR 20 and DEX 25]_

Damn. Here I was, hoping for instant martial arts prowess. Pity.

I picked up the next book, which was something about Heat. Clicking Yes generated another dialogue.

 _[Learning this skill requires the elemental affinity_ ** _Heat_** _]_

Goddammit! Going by that vein, all the books I had picked up, barring the one about digital electronics and an odd one out that was titled "The Power of Prayer" which I had found in the tiny religion section of the library were more or less useless, if they required elemental affinities to use. Just to check, I went through the rest, generating similar messages of failure. I gritted my teeth and picked up the book labeled "Digital Electronics and Related Concepts".

 _[You have learnt the skill_ ** _Physical Hacking_** _]_

 _[ **Physical**_ ** _Hacking_** _(Lv 1)(Active)_ _A skill that allows you to hack information systems by physically altering the system's chipsets, thus bypassing software firewalls and passwords. The possibility of success is dependent on the simplicity of the chipset and the level of the skill]_

That was interesting. That was very, very interesting. I wondered if Mikoto had a similar skill in her repertoire. At the very least, one of my skill books gave a useful skill.

I picked up the book labeled "The Power of Prayer". It was an odd book to have as a skill book. Shrugging, I tapped Yes

 _[Learning this skill requires an INT of 120 and WIS of 100]_

My eyes widened at the massive INT and WIS requirements. if I had been ingesting something while I read that, I would've needed a Heimlich Maneuver to recover.

 _"Ugh, the skill books were a bust"_ I thought, as slunk to the fridge, dismissing notifications, hoping that Touma had something edible left in the fridge. Thankfully, the Gamer didn't have an asinine hunger mechanic- I still felt hungry like a normal person. I would be pretty pissed if that were not the case- I loved eating.

I blinked at the array of raw vegetables that greeted my eyes, and groaned. I didn't know how to cook, and was not sure if I could get any money from Touma's account.

 _[Importing saved data...]_

 _[Import Successful!]_

 _[ **Cooking**_ _(Lv 18)(Active): A skill that allows you to prepare food fit for consumption. Edibility and taste depends on the level of this skill]_

I blinked stupidly, looking at the notification. Then my face split into a wide grin.

 _"Touma, you little genius, you"_ I thought ecstatically, removing vegetables from the fridge with newfound knowledge and confidence, getting the stove running, and prepared myself a simple meal.

An hour later had me sighing contently. It had been slightly burnt, and had more salt than needed, but most importantly, was edible.

Deciding to ponder upon future action on the morrow, I fell onto the bed, not bothering to change, dumping all of my mana into the Ward active in my room, buying another eight and a half hours of time over what was available before, and escaped into the world of dreams.

* * *

 **Heh. Hope that was interesting.**

 **Guest: I was thinking about Index and Mikoto actually when I wrote that. You are right actually. Definitely won't be going into M rated territory, at least with respect to sex, mainly because I can't write Lemons. Violence...Well, there is potential, but for now it is going to be T. Who knows what will happen with Sakura though XD.**

 **Also, Touma's eyes are brown. I checked.**

 **It would be nice if you created an account, then I can send these answers by PM. It's free anyway. Also, here are his stats**

[Name: Touma Kamijou]

[Class: The Gamer]

[Titles: The Taveller (Lv MAX)

Electromaster(Lv 1)]

[Level 5]

[EXP: 750/32000]

[HP 220/220]

[MP 516/516]

[STR: 10]

[DEX: 10]

[VIT: 12]

[INT: 12 (41.6)]

[WIS: 13(40.3)]

[CHA: 11 (27.3)]

[LUK: 10(0)]

[Points: 20]

[Money: 0¥]


	6. Arc 1: Monday Morning Blues

**EDIT 01/08/2017: Once again, minor error checking by JediKage96**

* * *

The next morning, my blissful state was disturbed by the sound of a ringing phone. Groaning, I turned over, blindly hunting for the offending instrument.

"Ugh, Moshi-Moshi?" I said, eyes still shut, hoping that whoever it was would go away quickly.

"Baka" came the heated reply.

"Misaka-san?" I said, momentarily surprised, before remembering my promise to give her a call to ensure that I was fine.

"Ah. Sorry. I forgot" I continued sheepishly.

"You should be. You barely remembered your name the last I saw you, and yet saw it fit to go your own merry way. The least you could do was to assuage my concerns by giving me call, especially since it is my responsibility to keep you safe" she said.

My eyebrows went up at that. "How am I your responsibility?" I asked incredulously

There was a pause across the line. She then said, "You were injured trying to protect me, even though it was unnecessary. If I had acted sooner instead of just passively doing nothing, you wouldn't have been injured. Besides, I let you leave the hospital despite not being fully well, thus I need to make sure that nothing happens to you."

This only caused my eyebrows to go up further. "You do know that you are just a kid, right?" I said bemusedly.

"Who are you calling a kid?" Came the heated reply.

I just smirked, even though I knew that she couldn't see. "Relax, I am just teasing you. I need to ask you a few things anyway. Is there any time we can meet up?"

There was another pause, before she said "Ummm... Somewhere around five? I will send you the location"

"Alright then. Sorry for not calling" I said.

"Oh, you will be" Came the ominous reply, before the call disconnected.

Putting the phone down, I finally opened my eyes, wincing at the sudden change in lighting. I was immediately greeted by a notification

 _[Synchronization at 60%! The System has been updated! Would you like to view the change log?]_

I stared at that. Updates were a part of every video game in existence. They were _not_ supposed to be a part of real life...

 ** _[Change Log: The Gamer-v1.01_**

 _1\. Borderless windows, enabled repositioning of windows_

 _2\. New Notifications appear only at the top right corner instead of being at the center of the screen_

 _3\. New HP, MP and EXP bars for the user at the top left_

 _4\. New skill creation messages will no longer come from the Department of Redundancy Department_

 _5\. All EXP gain, Level gain and skill point gain notifications close after three seconds, adjustable in the_ _ **Options**_ _menu. New points/Level/EXP gain log, accessible through_ _ **Journal**_

 _6\. Added armor and clothing sets to_ _ **Inventory**_

 _7\. Clock and Date added]_

I read over the changes, pondering over this new development. Either there was a developer working behind the scenes (A not-entirely-impossible and _very_ disturbing notion), or this power was semi-autonomous, perhaps even semi- if not fully- sentient. I idly wondered what could be powering it, and if it really did have a background developer, or if it was just a part of my subconscious mind acting as one. It had a similar sense of humor to mine, for one, and it had changed the things that I had noticed as inconvenient at the first chance, adding useful features that I had vaguely thought as being epic if they had been present as a part of the Gamer. It didn't matter too much either way, as it seemed that I was dealing with a closed system; I wouldn't be opening a terminal and enabling God mode. I was not even capable of changing the difficulty setting.

Opening my inventory, I found a new tab above the scale model of my body—currently in the clothing I had left the hospital in, i.e., my school uniform which I hadn't bothered to change out of last night. Selecting the tab, my inventory screen changed to display a drop-down list of selectable empty options. Humming, I selected one and a second window containing my scale model and all the requisite slots for gear popped up to the right side of the current window, along with the rest of my inventory. Well, _nearly_ the rest of it. I noticed the potions and Skill books were excluded, while the clothes I was wearing were in appropriate slots on my body. There were no other Items listed in the inventory.

Walking to the set of drawers on the opposite side of the room, I opened them, to be greeted by Touma's painfully limited wardrobe. He seemed to have the bare minimum number of sets of casual and non-casual clothing, something that would need to change over the next few weeks.

Casually shoving the entire lot into the inventory, I watched as they all appeared on the new list, sorted by type. Selecting a pair of shorts, I dragged them into the proper slot. It switched out the pair I was wearing , and gave me a notification.

 _[You have added shorts (forest green) to this clothing set. Would you like to adjust settings now?]_

 _'Settings? For clothes? Okay, I'm curious now. Let's find out.'_ Clicking Yes, I found three options available: schedule, cleanliness, and durability. Schedule allowed me to set what day(s) of the week I would wear that specific pair of clothes along with the option to randomize the selection. Selecting Randomize, I was asked if I would like to automatically cycle through clothing based on cleanliness. That was a pretty obvious choice—I hated dirty clothes. Checking the Cleanliness settings allowed me to set an acceptable level of clean for various items of clothing by percentage and how many days I would wear an item that remained otherwise clean before considering it dirty—in other words, if I set the cleanliness percentage to 50% and went three days without hitting 50% cleanliness, the system would automatically cycle clothes in this set on the fourth day if I told it to. I wouldn't wear clothes more than one day or accept anything under 75% clean unless I was working out in something and happened to get it sweaty or bloody—luckily, there was an option to ignore cleanliness settings during training or battle. Durability allowed me to select how damaged I would tolerate clothes being before the system would no longer automatically shuffle them into this particular clothing set—useful, if I only used the inventory system and didn't really pay attention to wear and tear on my clothes. There was no option for it, so I would just have to remember which ones needed washing at the end of each week or check their statuses individually.

Repeating the process with the rest of my clothes and finding the settings seemed to default to identical across the board unless you adjusted one specifically, I was asked to name my new clothing set once I finished. "Casual."

 _[The clothing set 'Casual' has been created and can now be selected from the main_ _ **Inventory**_ _screen! To equip this set using voice commands, say 'Equip Clothing Set 1' or 'Equip Casual Set.']_

Satisfied, I glanced at the new clock on my HUD, noting that it was 8:30 in the morning on June 19th, and that it was a Monday.

 _"Speaking of which, doesn't Touma go to school?"_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Monday Morning Blues!**_ _]_

 _[It is your first Monday in your new life, and thus, is your first introduction to Monday Morning Blues. Get yourself out of bed and to class. Bonus points for every minute you are early, and if you make breakfast_

 _Time Limit: 30 mins]_

 _[Rewards: 500 EXP +50EXP per minute saved+500 for breakfast, Increased reputation amongst your teachers. Failure: Eternal embarrassment, loss of reputation amongst teachers, remedial homework]_

My eyes widened at that, and I scrambled out of bed, hoping against hope that I would reach on time.

* * *

 _[Quest **Monday Morning Blues**_ _failed!]_

Despite my best efforts, I was unable to make it to my class on time. despite not having to wear clothes and shoes (just equip them), and forgoing breakfast, Touma's school was far enough that even running all the way there was not enough. Thanks to the map, I didn't have to hunt for his classroom. Small mercy that.

On the bright side, Run and my STR gained a level.

Komoe-sensei, my childlike homeroom teacher, gave me this look, like I had betrayed her in the worst possible way, which given her childish looks, made me feel like I had denied a cute kid their chocolate, and then stamped all over it in front of them. I got evil glares from the rest of the class for making her look like that (I could understand why. That look could be weaponized. Maybe it was an ability? the Empathy Beam?), and thus disgraced, slunk to my assigned desk, which, helpfully, was the only one left empty, and plopped my head on it.

"Ah Kami-yan! Shame on you, making Komoe-sensei look at us like that so early on a Moday morning" came a voice from my left.

I gave a small groan, I lifted my head of the desk, and turned to face the offending voice.

 **Motoharu Tsuchimikado**

 **The Backstabbing Blade**

 **Lv 28**

I just grunted at him. Komoe-sensei started teaching, and I forced myself to listen to her, despite knowing most of it already. Ugh, the horrors of compulsory education.

The rest of the day was surprisingly...standard. I had Motoharu and Pierce entertain me through the day with their discussions about their respective fetishes and other random topics, much like all discussions between hormonal males in the absence of female company. It didn't feel much different from a normal school day in any school.

The only problem was that I couldn't risk messing with the Gamer, given that Motoharu was supposed to be exceedingly observant. So I settled down to a day at school, albeit without the awkwardness that surrounded a new student.

When school let out (finally), I walked out with Motoharu and Pierce on either side of me, discussing the what was the best way to instigate a school-wide orgy across me, while I looked on in bemusement.

"Water balloons are the way!" Motoharu claimed.

"Pfft! As though something as mild as getting everyone drenched is enough!"

"Who said that there would be just water in the balloons?" Motoharu countered.

"I like the way you think" Pierce said. "What would you put in them?"

Before Motoharu could elaborate on his dastardly plans, I got a text from Mikoto, giving me where she wanted us to meet up. Glancing at my HUD, I saw that I had about half an hour to get there.

"Alright guys, I need to go. I have to meet up with someone" I said, before my mind caught up with my mouth, and I realized the minefield that I had stepped into.

Motoharu and Pierce looked at each other across me, and with identical evil grins, opened their mouths to start what would no doubt be one of those embarrassing interrogations that were standard amongst all single, male friends.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later found me jogging the short distance to the park that I was supposed to meet Mikoto at. _"Retreat is not a bad thing."_ I thought to myself, trying to justify my reaction to their questioning. Thankfully, Gamer's Mind allowed me to keep my cool, but I didn't want to risk overwhelming it.

Shaking my head, I slowed down to a walk, as according to the map, I wasn't far from my destination.

A few minutes later, I saw Mikoto in front of a vending machine, a little a ways from the place we were supposed to meet. As I made to call her, she gave it a powerful kick.

 _"So it's_ _ **that**_ _machine huh?"_ I thought, immediately changing directions, figuring that she would retreat to the spot she had told me to meet her at to avoid the service bots.

I reached the spot tagged on the map as our meet up location, sat down at a bench, and waited for her to turn up.

Sure enough, a few minutes later, she turned up with a couple of sodas and slightly out of breath.

"You could just shock it you know?" I said.

"Huh?"

"That machine. If you wanted free drinks, you could just shock the machine. Why kick it?" I elaborated.

She blushed. "Ummm... well, that machine is broken..."

"Doesn't that make it _easier_ to shock?" I said.

She raised a finger, mouth open, ready to say something, before bringing the finger down, flushing a brighter red in embarrassment.

Laughing at her expression, I made a motion for the soda in her hand, which I assumed she had brought for me.

"Don't laugh!" she whined, handing me the soda, taking a seat next to me, which only caused my grin to further widen.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" She asked.

"Ah. That. Remember about the powers I told you about at the hospital yesterday?" , I said slightly awkwardly.

"What about them?" She asked.

"Ah. Well, I went to the library after splitting with you, figuring I would be able to access my personal data from there. Thought I could jog my memory a bit"

 _[_ _ **Bluff's**_ _Level has gone up by 1!]_

With great effort, I ignored the notification, and continued. "There was a footnote at the bottom. Apparently, details of my powers were sealed information."

"And..." Mikoto asked leadingly.

Rubbing my hand across my face, I explained further "It means that I wasn't supposed to tell you of my powers at all. I looked in further as to what revealing sealed information entailed...and the results were not...pleasant. So...Yeah, I would appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about my powers yeah?"

She looked at me in a considering manner, and then said "I will agree to that on one condition"

I raised an eyebrow at that "Alright?"

"I want to spar against you" she said.

"Ummm...What?" I asked, bewildered.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Duel!**_ _]_

 _[Misaka Mikoto is looking for a strong opponent, and believes that she had found that in you. Validate this belief for her, or failing that, at least don't get one hit KO'd]_

 _[Rewards:18000 EXP, increased closeness to Misaka Mikoto. Failure: Decreased closeness to Misaka Mikoto, Possible second degree burns]_

 _{Yes/No}_

"You see, when I shocked those thugs after you were knocked out, I was unable to prevent some of the strikes from reaching you. However, nothing happened. So I am curious as to why that is...and also about your abilities..." she rambled as I looked through the new quest.

 _"Hmmmm...Interesting. Besides the not unsubstantial EXP reward, there is a lot of scope in that. I get to level up a few skills as well. If I manage to win without using Imagine Breaker, that would be a bigger plus, and I would be able to hide my trump card under my other abilities"_ I thought as I cut her off mid-sentence, and said "Sure"

She looked at me incredulously for a second, before breaking out into a broad grin. She grabbed my hand, and started to drag me away from the bench

"Wait, now?!" I said, panicking slightly. Her grip was surprisingly firm, and I had hoped for more time to prepare.

"There is no time like the present" she said chirpily. She was so excited, I could see a few sparks playing around her bangs.

 _"Alright then"_ I thought bemusedly _"This ought to be fun"_

* * *

 **Well, that's that**

 **Guest: will you stop spamming me to delete your review? It's anonymous anyways! I wanted to answer your questions before deleting it! Get a bloody account, its not that difficult.**

 **Sakura won't be too important to the story. will give a better description in the next couple of chapters.**

 **Touma's eyes are, in a weird twist, Blue in the anime and brown in the LN's. Since I have decided to go with the LN's for this, his eyes will remain brown.**

 **The OC is Touma itself. Its a self insert into Touma's body basically, under the premise of a Gamer. Hence the OC tag**

 **You didn't mess up that much you know. Your spamming me was more irritating.**

 **Reviews are gold to me! So keep them coming!**


	7. Arc 1: Duel

**EDIT 01/08/2017: Minor error checking by JediKage96. Also, If you are a fan of star wars, check out his new story, called A very Sidious Menace**

* * *

A few bus trips and half an hour later found us in a small gap between two warehouses.

"Why here?" I asked "Isn't it a bit...limited when it comes to space?"

Mikoto grimaced "This is one of the few blind spots in the camera network that spans the city. The cameras shorted out one day, and nobody bothered to replace them."

I looked at her suspiciously "The cameras just happened to short out? Water-proof, physically shock proof, outdoor cameras just _happened_ to short out?" I said, looking at her.

"Ehehehe" she laughed nervously "It was an accident" she said in a small voice, looking at the ground, a blush apparent on her face.

I couldn't help it. It was just too cute. Before I could stop myself, I said "G'awwwww"

Her head snapped up at that. "Are you...Yes you are!" she exclaimed, her face now red in anger, sparks playing amongst her bangs. "Why you!"

Apparently, it was at this point that she lost control, and a spark jumped from her head to my body.

 _[Through a special action, a new skill has been_ _ **Shock Resistance**_ _has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Shock Resistance**_ _(Lv1)(Passive): Reduces the damage taken by your body due to attacks of an electrical nature. Effect: Reduces damage from electrical attacks by[(Skill Level)+(Affinity Level)+ (Affinity Title Level)]*10 HP.]_

 _[_ _ **Shock Resistance**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Shock Resistance**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Electromaster**_ _has gone up by1!]_

 _[VIT has gone up by 1!]_

 _[VIT has gone up by 1!]_

"Ughhhh" I groaned from my position on the floor, my, HP down by 80 points. _"What sort of monster is she that a_ _ **spark**_ _caused me to gain a new skill, two levels more on it and two points on VIT!?"_ I thought.

"Sorry! I am so sorry!" Mikoto said, running towards me to see if I was okay.

I held up a hand as I got up off the floor. My HP was already regenerating from that hit. "It's fine. I'm fine. Just...give me a sec" I said. She nodded in response.

"Observe" I subvocalized, aiming it at Mikoto.

 **Misaka Mikoto**

 **The Railgun**

 **Lv 97**

 **Electromaster (Lv 82)**

[HP: 620/620]

[MP: 6424/6424]

[STR: 10]

[DEX: 30]

[VIT: 52]

[INT: 260]

[WIS: 150]

[CHA:30]

[LUK: 23]

 _[One of the strongest known Espers in Academy city, and the face of the Level 5 espers for the city across the world. She is widely known for her young age and prodigious mind.]_

My eyes bugged out at her INT and WIS scores. To top that, her MP was more than twice what it was supposed to be according to her base stats. What sort of monster was she?!

Mikoto noticed my reaction. "What happened?", she asked.

I rubbed a hand across my face "I just feel that my chances of winning plummeted even further than I expected"

Her eyebrows went up, and she gave me an evil smirk "I told you you would be sorry", she said.

I shuddered, and held out a hand "Give me a minute to prepare" I said, as I started going through my skills.

Question was, do I reveal Imagine Breaker or not?

 _"She should be trustworthy...but she, at least at this point, trusts the City administration completely, unless she has already met one of her clones...But on the other hand, according to what I have said, my powers are sealed information..."_

Thing was, I hated losing, and I doubted that I could actually win without using Imagine Breaker.

Also, defeating someone of that level would give drool worthy amounts of EXP outside of the quest.

 _"Her STR is quite low...hmmmm"_ I thought. Out loud, I said "Let's begin!"

She grinned, and held out a hand. Immediately, black granules started levitating out of the ground.

Even when I watched the show, the sight was awe-inspiring. Seeing it in real life though. The amount of control she had over her powers was _insane_!

I jumped back, and fired a Spinning Mana Bullet at her, which was batted aside

 _[_ _ **Spinning Mana Bullet's**_ _level has increased by 1! You can now fire two bullets for every casting of the spell at the same cost as 1!]_

I glanced at the notification, before sprinting backwards, spamming SMB's at her.

She deflected them all with her sand, smirking, not having moved an inch. Her level was so far above mine, that SMB gained another three levels and another shot per cast from that volley.

"Do you plan to move at all?" I asked irritably.

"Let's see you deal with the most basic stuff first. Besides, this is punishment, so your defeat has to be as humiliating as possible" she said, still smirking at me.

I raised an eyebrow at her. At the moment though, there was nothing more I could do without Imagine Breaker, sad as it was. I doubted that Current would even faze her for even a second.

Speaking of which, I had to negate all of her direct electric attacks. I smirked at her, and picked up one of the iron bars around me, specifically choosing one that was just around my height. Using a couple of mana arrows to soften the ground, I planted it in, like a flag pole.

I smirked at her triumphantly.

She just raised an eyebrow and flicked a finger.

The bar ripped itself out of the ground and flew towards me.

 _"Ok, that is just way to OP"_ I thought to myself as I frantically dodged the bar attempting to cleave my head.

"Good thinking though, trying to ground my more direct attacks" She called out, grinning ferally, "~Too bad that it didn't work out ~" She said in a singsong voice.

I just scowled (Though I wasn't able to direct it at her, dodging was taking all of my concentration). Deciding that enough was enough, I reached out to catch the bar with my right hand.

As per usual, I misjudged. However, my hand clipped the bar, which was enough to break her control, causing it to fall to the ground with a clang.

She narrowed her eyes at me. Before she could try to lift the bar again, I sent a quick Mana Bolt at her, figuring that the area effect damage of the attack would be enough to displace her, mild as it was.

A black spike pierced the bolt, causing it to explode halfway, rendering it harmless.

I narrowed my eyes at her. Despite the fact that I had broken her control over the bar, she was still smirking that damned smirk.

 _"She is playing with me"_ I thought.

Well then. Time to go all out. I was _not_ going to lose, despite the fact she was ninety levels above me, with crazy stats. Her underestimation of me was going to be her undoing.

I charged up the yet-to-be-renamed-as-Rasengan in my left hand, and charged at her.

She just stood there, smirking, waiting for me to come.

At the last moment, she shaped the sand into a sword, and swung it at my left, aiming for the ball of energy in my hand.

I brought up my right hand, and jinked away, rapping the blade with my right hand.

With the sound of breaking glass, the sand lost cohesion. Before she could process that, I threw the bolt at her.

She dodged, eyes wide, but that was expected.

I caught hold of her left hand with my right, pulling her towards me. I then pinned her against the wall, a mana bolt in my left hand against her neck.

"I win" I said, grinning ferally at her.

She stared at me, eyes widened in surprise. Then for some reason, she started to blush, squirming in my grip.

 _[Quest_ _ **Duel!**_ _has been completed!]_

 _[You have gained 18000 EXP]_

 _[By outsmarting a vastly more skilled opponent, and taking advantage of her weaknesses, you have unlocked the title_ _ **The Strategist!**_ _]_

 _[INT has gone up by 1]_

 _[INT has gone up by 1]_

 _[A quest has been updated]_

 _[_ _ **Kami the Harem God: The Path of the Tsundere**_ _has been unlocked!]_

 _[By defeating Misaka Mikoto in a duel, you have managed to catch her attention, however much she may try to deny it. Fan the flames of her nascent feelings for you, and eventually, get her to admit them to herself and you!]_

 _[Rewards: ? EXP, +1 love interest, Increased closeness with Mikoto Misaka. Failure: Decreased closeness with Misaka Mikoto]_

 _[CHA has gone up by 1!]_

I let go of the blushing Mikoto as I read through the slew of new notifications. Ignoring her stammered congratulations (and the sparks playing through her hair dangerously), I let the mana bolt dissipate as I read through the last notification.

SMACK!

 _[Through repeated struggle, VIT has gone up by 1]_

Mikoto looked at me strangely, blush receding. "Why did you just facepalm? So hard that too?"

"Because this power has a crappy sense of humor" I said dryly, as I dismissed the notifications, idly noting that I had actually taken damage from that facepalm. Not much, but it was visible.

"Why do you say that?" She asked, looking at me curiously.

"Never mind" I sighed. Damn that stupid quest. By the Gods, I was _not_ going to become a pedophile by completing that quest. She gave me another look at my muttering expletives to myself, but thankfully, she repressed her curiosity.

Silence reined for a minute, while we recovered from our respective embarrassments. Then I asked "What do you want to do now?"

"Ummm...I don't know really. This was a spur of the moment thing" she said

I sighed at that. _"What to do, what to do"_ I thought as I brought up my active quests.

I had to decide how I wanted to respond to Sakura for one. The way the quest was phrased implied that she would end up as a casual acquaintance. What really caught my eye was the skills. I had created or found a truly astonishing number of skills in the one day I had been awake, and I still felt that it wasn't enough. I also needed a way to grind my skills up, and I hadn't found the time to experiment with the Instant dungeons. The ward I had left at home should've dissolved too, given that I hadn't recharged it since leaving. Curiously, I hadn't been drawn into another during the day, leading me to believe that it could be something that happened during sunset or sunrise.

There was also the Underworld Quest that I had gotten after robbing the library. I would have to look into that.

On top of that, I still had to go through the Gamer properly, and I had been too tired to do that yesterday. That in itself was curious to me, The Gamer's Mind ought to eliminate the need for sleep.

 _"Maybe because of the need to update the system?"_ I thought _"I ought to test that tonight"_

Looking up at Mikoto, who had been peering at me interestedly as I brought up windows and options, I said "I have a few quests to complete, stuff that is best done alone"

"Quests?" She asked.

"Another time" I said, waving her off "I will call you tomorrow, or if anything interesting comes up"

She looked at me, suspicion in her eyes "If you forget, I _will_ punish you." she said.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Trust Issues!**_ _]_

 _[Mikoto is worried about you, and finds it hard to leave you to your own devices after the events of two days ago, given that she believes that you are suffering from amnesia. Give her a reason to trust you by keeping in touch with her_

 _Rewards: 500 EXP, increased closeness to Misaka Mikoto. Failure: Punishment! (Who knows of which kind?)]_

Ignoring the implication that the Gamer was generating, I closed the quest alert.

"Alright then. I will meet you later!" I said, turning around to walk out of the alleyway between the warehouses where we were fighting.

"Wait!" She called out. I looked over my shoulder, eyebrows raised.

"How did you break my control over the sand? And the rod?" She asked.

I smirked at her. "Maybe another time" I said, before turning around the corner.

* * *

After splitting up with Mikoto, I caught a series of buses back to my room. While on the bus, I brought up my titles. I needed to see what the effect of the Strategist and the Electromaster titles were

 _[_ _ **Titles**_ _]_

 _[[_ _ **The Traveler**_ _(Lv MAX): Grants a 10% bonus to INT, WIS and CHA scores as a result of experience gained in a previous save. Grants use of knowledge beyond this save]_

 _[_ _ **Electromaster**_ _(Lv 2): Decreases the MP cost of skills using the Affinity_ _ **Electricity**_ _by (Title Level)%]_

 _[_ _ **The Strategist**_ _(Lv MAX): Provides a 5% bonus to INT and WIS scores]_

So Misaka, as a Level 82 Electromaster, used almost nothing to cast her abilities, going by the description of the title. Ugh, talk about over powered. How on earth did she get that strong so quickly?!

The Strategist provided a minor boost to my INT and WIS...every boost there was useful. Given that I was too lazy to actually workout, I intended to be primarily a caster type, using a repertoire of spells to mask Imagine Breaker's abilities as much as possible.

I needed a bigger spell set. Which meant grinding. Ugh.

Getting off the bus, I walked back into the dorm. Sitting on the bed, I recast the ward, now at level 2, and dumped my Mana into it.

 _"Hmmm...the mana cost goes down every level"_ I thought, as I dumped my mana into the ward after casting, idly noting that it's level went up again.

Speaking of which, I needed to check out Spinning Mana Bullet

 _[_ _ **Spinning Mana Bullet**_ _(Lv 6)(Active):_ _ **Spinning Mana Bullet**_ _, an extreme range attack skill with increased penetration power derived from its condensed exterior layer and increased velocity, was created from_ _ **Spinning Mana Arrow!**_ _Effect: 50% armor penetration, deals 300% of your INT modifier in damage, 8x faster than_ _ **Spinning Mana Arrow.**_ _At current level casts three bullets per cast. Number of shots per cast increase every three levels_ _ **.**_ _Cost: 10MP. Range: 250M. Speed: 2880km/h]_

Huh. That's new.

While all of that was impressive, I needed more spells, especially those using electricity, given the passives I had powering it. I also had to rename the vocal command for certain skills. Going to the Commands menu, I renamed Spinning Mana Bullet as AP round, and Spinning Mana Bolt as Rasengan.

 _"I should be able to create a electrically charged round. Hmmm..."_

 _[Through a special action, a skill_ _ **Charged Spinning Mana Bullet**_ _was created]_

 _[_ _ **Charged Spinning Mana Bullet**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): Creates an electrically charged mana bullet, increasing its damage to 350% of your INT score, and has a (INT-Opponent's VIT)% chance of stunning the target. Number of shots per cast increases every three levels. Currently one shot per cast. Cost: 10 MP. Range: 250m. Speed 2880 km/h]_

I grimaced at the unwieldy name, and renamed it to EAPR. If my commands were going to be vocal, They couldn't be more than four syllables long, else they would be unwieldy in combat.

Given the passives powering it, EAPR was far superior to the newly-rechristened AP round, even though it's base MP cost was the same. I now had to level it up a bit.

I glanced at my HUD clock, noting the time was seven thirty in the evening. _"Time enough to experiment with the Instant Dungeons"_ I thought.

At the same moment however, my stomach gave a distinct growl.

 _"Maybe food first"_

* * *

 **Wow that was fast**

 **AriaTheLostMelody: You are 80% of the reason that this chapter came out this fast. It really made my day.**

 **Guest: I love you bro. The fact that you keep asking questions makes my day.**

 **Touma's precognition was a result of experience from battles, which the current Touma hasn't inherited yet. His Skills, along with his current stats at the end of this chapter are included after this AN. It's a long list. LOL**

 **On an interesting side note, If you are wondering what I was upto with the iron rod planted in the ground, Lightning cannot be aimed. It follows the path of least resistance into the ground. Thus, if the rod was between Touma and Mikoto, all electric strikes would go towards the rod and not Touma. At least, that's what the plan was XD.**

 **Also, he didn't gain more EXP because he didn't actually bring her HP to zero, he defeated her according to the quest parameters.**

* * *

 **THE GAMER'S STATS**

[Name: Touma Kamijou]

[Class: The Gamer]

[Titles: The Taveler (Lv MAX)

Electromaster(Lv 2)

The Strategist (Lv MAX)]

[Level 5]

[EXP: 18750/32000]

[HP 240/240]

[MP 559/559]

[STR: 11]

[DEX: 11]

[VIT: 14]

[INT: 14(45.9)+]

[WIS: 13(41.9)+]

[CHA: 12 (28.6)+]

[LUK: 10(0)+]

[Points: 20]

[Money: 0¥]

* * *

 **SKILLS** (There might be errors when it comes to levels)

 _[ **The Traveler's Experience** (Lv MAX)(Passive): As a traveler from a different time, you see and understand things differently from the people of this time. Grants the Title: The Traveler, and allows for importing of skills, levels and stats from previous save data]_

 _[ **Language Proficiency- Japanese** (Passive)(Lv-30):This Skill allows you to understand and articulate yourself in the language Japanese. The higher the Skill level, the greater the speed at which you understand text and speech in Japanese.]_

 _[ **Contemplate** (Active)(Lv-2) Through continuous inner focus, a skill to order thoughts and increase the clarity of mind and awareness of body was created. Passive effect: +20% VIT,INT,WIS. Active Effect: +100% HP Regen, MP Regen]_

 _[ **Listen** (Active)(Lv-1):Through focusing on sounds, a skill to pick up distant or quiet sounds, or specific sounds out of a crowd was created. Passive effect: increases basic listening by 50%. Active effect: increases range and clarity of listening by 150%.]_

 _[ **Bluff** (Active)(Lv-4):Through the act of lying, a skill for creative use of mistruth and misdirection was created. Active effect: Increases the likelihood of deceiving others, either through words or actions]_

 _[ **Perception** (Lv 5)(Passive): A skill to increase attention to detail, adjust to changes in environment, increase your overall attention to your surroundings, and detect hidden items, places, people or enemies was created while trying to navigate. Effect: Increases stealth detection by 100%, Increases hidden object detection by 100%, increases combat awareness by 100%, increases terrain navigation by 100%, adds new points of interest to minimap. Range:100m]_

 _[ **Personal Reality** (Lv MAX)(Active): One of the most basic aspects of mana manipulation, which allows your belief to override the natural order. This skill allows you to build mana manipulation techniques of one elemental affinity. Once the affinity is chosen, it cannot be changed. Leveling up the skill allows you to open more skill trees, and choose multiple affinities]_

 _[ **Observe** (Lv-6)(Active): Through Continuous observation, a skill to observe objects, situations, and persons was generated allowing the user to quickly gather information. The higher the skill, the greater the detail of data]_

 _[ **Sleight of Hand** (Lv 4)(Active): A skill which allows you to swipe objects without people noticing it happening. Effect: Decreases chances of detection when stealing an object by( (DEX+CHA)*(Lv of Skill)/10)%]_

 _[ **Skill Creation** (Lv MAX)(Passive): A skill that allows you to create skills based on your base INT score. The higher the INT, the more powerful the ability generated.]_

 _[ **Steal** (Lv 4 )( Active): A skill to Steal things that don't belong to you was created. Effect: takes an item that doesn't belong to you from someone else and adds it to your inventory. Combines with **Sleight of Hand** where applicable.]_

 _[ **Sneak** (Active)(Lv 1) **:** A skill that allows you to avoid detection. It decreases your speed by 50% and chances of detection by 1*(Lv of **Sneak** )%]_

 _ **[Sneak Attack** (Lv 2)(Active): Effect: increases damage done to unaware enemies by 100%. Increase **Sneak Attack** 's level to increase its damage.]_

 _[ **Coup de Grace** (Lv MAX)(Active): By rendering an enemy **Helpless** , you unlocked the a skill to deal the finishing blow of a mercy killing, **Coup de Grace**. Effect: all attacks against **Helpless** enemies are now considered a **Critical Hit**. If an enemy does not possess a discernible anatomy or is otherwise immune to **CRIT** , all attacks against it instead do double damage]_

 _[ **Danger Perception** (Lv 1)(Passive):The ability to sense danger is a natural survival instinct even the lowliest of animals possesses. Effect: allows the user to sense when the potential for danger is high in any situation and determine where that danger is coming from if applicable.]_

 _ **[Run** (Lv 2)(Active): A skill for running away from, or towards, danger or more mundane objectives has been created— **Run**! Effect: increases your movement speed by ((STR+DEX+ Skill Level)% for a number of minutes equal to your VIT score. Resting restores your stamina. Leveling **Run** will allow you to run faster for longer periods of time before becoming exhausted.]_

 _[ **Mana Bolt** (Lv 1)(Active): Releases a bolt of pure Mana. Causes INT*2 damage to the target and explodes on contact. percentage chance to **knock down** or **stun** the enemies in the target area based on your INT and their combined VIT and STR. If your INT is greater than the target's combined VIT and STR scores, 100% chance of **Knock Down,** and if greater than combined INT and STR scores, 100% chance of **Stun**. Causes area effect damage equal to 10% of the base damage of the attack. Weak against armored targets. Cost: 15MP, Range: 10m, Area: 2m, Speed: 36 km/h]_

 _[ **Spinning Mana Bolt** (Lv 1)(Active): **Spinning Mana Bolt** was created by channeling your mana into a **Mana Bolt** and then directing the mana to rotate violently. Effect: 20% armor or defense penetration, deals 600% of your INT worth of damage, minimum 4 second spin time but spin time can be increased to 10 seconds for added damage. Cost: 60MP base, 15MP/sec after 4 seconds. Range: 10m.]_

 _[ **Mana Arrow** (Lv 1)(Active): **Mana Arrow** was created to damage enemies at a greater range than **Mana Bolt** , by hardening mana into an elongated shape. Effect: damages the target for 100% of your INT modifier, piercing, 10x faster than **Mana Bolt.** Cost: 8MP. Range: 20M. Speed: 360km/h]_

 _[ **Spinning Mana Arrow** (Lv 1)(Active): **Spinning Mana Arrow** , a long distance attack skill with increased penetration power, was created by adding strong spin to a **Mana Arrow.** Effect: 20% armor penetration, deals 300% of your INT modifier in damage, 10x faster than **Mana Bolt**. Cost: 8MP. Range: 20M. Speed: 360km/h]_

 _[ **Spinning Mana Bullet** (Lv 3)(Active): **Spinning Mana Bullet** , an extreme range attack skill with increased penetration power derived from its condensed exterior layer and increased velocity, was created from **Spinning Mana Arrow!** Effect: 50% armor penetration, deals 300% of your INT modifier in damage, 8x faster than **Spinning Mana Arrow.** At current level casts two bullets per cast **.** Cost: 10MP. Range: 250M. Speed: 2880km/h]_

 _[ **Current** (Lv1)(Active): This skill allows you to channel a high current through your body, stunning any being within contact. It can also can be channeled through any conductor in contact with the user's body. Effect: Has a INT*(Affinity Level)*(Skill Level)/(Opponent's VIT) percentage chance of stunning a target. Causes (Skill Level)*10 damage. Increases the duration of **Stunned** effect on a previously stunned target.]_

 _[ **Create ID** (Lv 1)(Active): You have learned a skill to create instant dungeons out of bubbles of space between the real world and the spirit world. Effect: create an **Instant Dungeon** that will attract restless spirits. Leveling the skill will allow different types of enemies and environments with different properties to be created. Cost: 50MP.]_

 _[ **Escape ID** (Lv 1)(Active): You have learned a skill to escape or destroy Illusion Barriers. Effect: destroy or escape an Illusion Barrier. Some Illusion Barriers can neither be destroyed nor escapes from if the being or effect that created them is strong enough and must be resolved by destroying or disabling whatever is creating the barrier. Cost: 50MP.]_

 _[ **Ward** (Lv 3)(Active): Allows you to ward against creation of IDs against your will. Cost: 48MP+0.33MP/Min. Can be charged with a bulk amount of MP during casting for prolonged barrier that are independent of the caster. Allows for charging of previously cast Wards. The ward prevents creation of IDs up to two levels greater than its own level. Wards once cast don't level up with the skill. Radius: 20m]_

 _[ **Physical Hacking** (Lv 1)(Active) **:** A skill that allows you to hack information systems by physically altering the system's chipsets, thus bypassing software firewalls and passwords. The possibility of success is dependent on the simplicity of the chipset and the level of the skill]_

 _[ **Cooking** (Lv 18)(Active): A skill that allows you to prepare food fit for consumption. Edibility and taste depends on the level of this skill]_

 _[ **Shock Resistance** (Lv3)(Passive): Reduces the damage taken by your body due to attacks of an electrical nature. Effect: Reduces damage from electrical attacks by [(Skill Level)+(Affinity Level)+ (Affinity Title Level)*10 HP.]_

 _[ **Physical Endurance** (Lv1)(Passive): Reduces the damage taken by your body due to attacks of physical nature by (VIT+ Skill Level)*10 HP]_

 _[ **Preferred Element (Electricity)** (Passive)(Lv 45): In depth knowledge electronic circuits and their behaviour allows you to create skills based on the element **Electricity** much more easily! Effect: decreases the INT cost of creating skill with the element **Electricity** by 45%! Increases Effects of **Electricity** based skills by 23%]_

 _[ **Preferred Element (Light)** (Passive)(Lv 12): In depth knowledge of the behaviour of various parts of the electromagnetic spectrum under various conditions allows you to create skill using the **Light** element much more easily! Effect: decreases INT cost of creating a skill using the element **Light** by 12%! Increases effects of **Electricity** based skills by 6%]_

 _[ **Preferred Element (Momentum)** (Passive)(Lv 20): In depth knowledge of the behaviour of elastic bodies allows you to create skill using the **Momentum** element much more easily! Effect: decreases the INT cost of creating a skill using the element **Momentum** by 20%! Increases effects of **Momentum** based skills by 10%]_

* * *

 **Thats all for this time**


	8. Arc 1: School Days

**Cookies to Darkbetrayer and fatasinia for being wonderful sounding boards for this chapter**

 **Edit 09/08/2017: Minor Grammar errors corrected by JediKage96**

* * *

For some reason, Touma hadn't kept much in the way of packaged food, So I had to cook again. _"A result of his lack of money I suppose."_

As I set up the dishes and ingredients for my dinner, I brought up the elemental skill tree. It was something I needed to look at anyway.

 _[_ _ **Elemental Skill Tree**_ _]_

 _[Element:_ _ **Electricity**_ _]_

 _[Current Level: 1(+)]_

 _[Upgrades available: 1(+)]_

 _[Possible Upgrades:_

 _1\. Control 1_

 _2\. Volume 1_

 _3\. Volume 2]_

 _"Hmmm...interesting"_ I thought as I expanded the Current Level and Upgrades options

 _[Current Level: 1_

 _Number of elemental skills required for Level 2: 5_

 _Number of elemental skills currently unlocked: 3]_

 _[Upgrades Available: 1_

 _Cumulative Level of elemental skills required to unlock next level: 20_

 _Current Level: 3 (From 3 skills)]_

 _"Huh. So the number of skills decides my level, the cumulative control I have over them decides how many of the upgrades I can unlock at each level. No doubt I can keep grinding one skill forever, but upgrades I am sure have some massive effect, and being stuck at one level would be a pain."_

 _[_ _ **Contemplate**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

I blinked at the random notification before dismissing it. _"Is this going to happen every time I sit and think about something?"_ I thought exasperatedly.

Shaking my head, I expanded the skill tree further. While there were only three upgrades at level one, the number kept expanding at each level. They were all labeled as Control or Volume, barring three at the fifth level, which seemed to be the cap.

 _[ **Level 1**_

 _Control 1 Volume 1_

 _Volume 2_

 ** _Level 2_**

 _Control 2 Volume 3_

 _Control 3 Volume 4_

 ** _Level 3_**

 _Control 4 Volume 5_

 _Control 5 Volume 6_

 _Control 6_

 _Control 7_

 ** _Level 4_**

 _Control 9 Volume 7_

 _Control 10 Volume 8_

 _Volume 9_

 _Volume 10_

 _Volume 11_

 _Volume 12_

 ** _Level 5_**

 _Control 11 Volume 13_

 _Control 12 Volume 14_

 _Control 13_

 _Control 14_

 _Special Skill 1_

 _Special Skill 2_

 _Special Skill 3]_

By the looks of it, to unlock the special skills at level 5, I would have to complete at least one tree, either Volume or Control. Can't be a Jack of All Trades to unlock special skills.

 _"So...Control or Volume..."_ I pondered as I chopped some veggies.

Clicking on Volume 1 and Control 1 gave me their effects.

 _[_ _ **Volume 1**_ _: Gives a 2% increase to damage caused to all electrical attacks]_

 _[_ _ **Control 1:**_ _Increases the chance of an effect of an electrical attack activating by 2%]_

 _"Huh. So Volume gives increased damage while Control makes effects more likely to activate. Hmmm..."_

If this were a standard RPG, I would go for volume every single time. Damage was what killed bosses, as they tended to be immune to effects.

However, there were other things to consider here. For example, physical hacking was a pure effect, and it's chances of success were not properly defined in the description. For such skills, every little bit counted. I also doubted that much of what I did here would be _actual fighting_. Physical violence was not how the city worked, it ran on information and intrigue. There was no defined enemy (except maybe the negative spirits), and there was no end game. This, essentially, was an RPG with a heavy focus on puzzles rather than fighting, where damage, while important, wasn't really helpful in the long run.

Nodding to myself, I selected Control 1, and confirmed that it was the upgrade I wanted. It lit up on the tree, while the others remained dull.

That done, I filled a pot with water, and set it to boil.

While I waited for the water to boil, my mind started wandering onto the several questions that I had had, but didn't have any real time to myself to ponder over. Like how the Gamer existed in the first place.

 _"From what I remember, Imagine Breaker negated anything out of the ordinary. It was restricted to his right hand, and negated everything. I have unintentionally touched my head several times over the past few days without thinking, and nothing has happened. That means the Gamer, if restricted to my mind, is not affected by Imagine Breaker. It even registers as a skill on it!"_

Frowning, I brought up my Abilities window as the pot boiled. Imagine Breaker's description...It didn't seem to cover the range of powers it should, but it still _seemed_ to work the same.

"Hmmmm..." I hummed as I turned shut of the stove. _"Time for a test..."_

I walked out of the room, and went to the edge of the Ward I had set up around my house. I had passed through it several times without Imagine Breaker going off, but I needed to confirm.

I stuck my right hand through it, and somewhat expectedly, nothing happened.

 _"According to what I know, Imagine Breaker's Wielder should not be able to cast any sort of magic... but somehow, I am doing just that. And it is not even negating what I have cast. Have I somehow become an exception to Imagine Breaker? Or is the Gamer more powerful than it?"_

My frown deepened. I needed to find out how the Gamer was working around Imagine Breaker, or if it was somehow a part of Imagine Breaker itself.

On the bright side, it more or less eliminated the possibility of an outside influence acting as the developer. Imagine Breaker would sever any such connection.

Walking back into the room, I sat down to eat dinner. As the first morsel made its way to my mouth, my eyes fell upon Ninjas of Love.

 _"Hmmmm..."_

* * *

(Three hours later)

 _"Huh...What do you know...she was right..."_ I thought as I set the book down, halfway done. While the plot synopsis gave the impression that it was just a series of lemons stitched together with plot, it was pretty much the opposite.

Mulling over it for a second, I took out the sticky note that Sakura had left in the back, giving it a considering look.

 _"Skills versus potential embarrassment..."_ I thought as I looked at the ten digits that formed Sakura's phone number.

In the end, I decided that whatever happened, the book was pure gold, and shoved it to the back of my mind.

 _"Ugh. I forgot to play with Instant Dungeons again."_ I thought. Well, it was too late now, If I wanted to go to school in a timely manner.

I set an alarm on my phone for the next morning. Feeling extremely curious as to whether it would ring from my inventory, I shoved it in. _"Eh, worst case scenario, I am late again"_ I thought as I fell back on the bed, falling asleep.

* * *

At seven the next morning, I was awoken by the sound of the alarm from Touma's sad excuse for a mobile phone.

 _"Metal? Seriously?"_ I thought. Well, I couldn't dispute its effectiveness at waking me up though.

As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by a notification.

 _[Alarm: 7:00 am_

 _Dismiss/Snooze]_

I stared at that. So the phone functioned from the inventory? Did that mean I could make and take calls without taking the phone out of inventory?

Bringing up the options after dismissing the alarm, I started scrolling through, but there were no options as such to make or take calls, or indeed, anything phone related.

 _"Hmmm...Maybe it will come in the next update...Or the phone is too old to integrate into the system?"_ I thought.

Glancing at the clock, which was now showing five past seven, I got myself out of bed, and started to get ready for school.

* * *

 _"Having to cook every meal for myself is seriously a pain..."_ I thought as I walked into the classroom.

I sat down at my bench, and bent down to retrieve Ninjas of Love, which I planned to pursue in class when I got bored. High school stuff was _laaaame_. These people used calculators for high school math. I mean, seriously, who needs calculators for high school math?!

When I straightened up, I was greeted by the far-too-close-to-mine faces of Motoharu and Peirce.

I yelped and jumped back, almost falling over in my shock. Hastily grabbing the edge of the desk, I glared at the unrepentantly grinning faces of the two.

"What the hell?" I barked at them.

Ignoring my ire, Motoharu said "Ne, Kami-yan! How was your date yesterday?"

I looked at him confusedly, while Peirce continued to grin like an idiot. "What date?" I asked

"The one which you ditched us for yesterday, you lucky bastard!" Peirce exclaimed, fake indignation all over his face.

I facepalmed.

"It wasn't a date you idiots!" I groaned. "I had to meet up with someone"

"Then why were you so evasive about it?" Motoharu asked

 _"Because I can't just tell you that I was going to meet up with THE Misaka Mikoto so casually"_ I thought, while I outwardly said "Because it is none of your business"

The two of them again grinned at each other like they had struck gold. Before they could hound me any further however, Komoe-sensei walked into the room, asking us to settle down.

* * *

By the end of the day, I was in a foul mood. The entire day, I had been hounded by those two. During lunch, the two of them made such a ruckus that they ended up being clobbered by one of our female classmates, whose main defining feature was the size of her chest, and ended up in detention. I vaguely remembered her from the series, and the Gamer gave her name as Seiri Fukiyose. For some reason she glared at me too, like their antics were somehow my fault. I had a feeling that this was a regular occurrence given the lack of reaction from the rest of my classmates.

In the afternoon, we had Physical Education with Yomikawa Aiho. She had had a vindictive look on her face today, and made the last two hours of the afternoon an absolute hell for the three of us. I later found out that she was the one who conducted the detentions of my idiotic friends after drawing the short straw in the staff room, and took it out on us in PE.

On the bright side, STR and VIT went up again.

Thus, stinky, tired and irritated, I made my way home, fully intent on finishing Ninjas of Love, which I hadn't had a chance to read the whole of today, after having a nice, long shower.

I was walking past a mall when a girl suddenly linked hands with mine, almost making me fall due to sudden change in pace

 _"What the fuck?!"_ I thought, bewildered.

Before I could recover my senses, the girl, whose face was somehow near my ear, whispered in a deadly voice "Play along, or I will shove a bomb down your pants!"

I tried to shake myself free of her vice-like grip, and when that failed, proceeded to glare at her, finally getting a look at her face.

She was a short, young blonde, wearing a beret, a sailor top with a black coat, and a pleated skirt.

She glared right back at me in response.

Before I could say anything to protest against my manhandling, her eyes focused on something behind me. Her eyes then widened, and she pulled me down.

"Mmmphh" I protested incoherently into her mouth as she kissed me, her eyes open and still focused on what was behind me.

A few seconds later, she relaxed, and removed her lips from mine, though she still hadn't let go of my arm

"Gahh! What the fuck!?" I said out loud, flinching away from her. "What's the big idea?"

She put a finger on my mouth, still glaring at me. Her other hand subtly moved her coat aside, showing me a metallic glint.

 _"Is that...a gun?!"_ I thought, gulping a little. While I couldn't really get hurt, I didn't want to find out what would happen if I got shot.

"Play along, and nothing will happen to you" she growled at me.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Playing Charades**_ _]_

 _[You have been forcefully conscripted into playing the part of a loving boyfriend by an unknown, pretty and dangerous girl! Find out the reasons for your conscription and play along for as long as needed for you to be safe from the pretty girl's wrath!_

 _Reward: 5000 EXP, increased closeness to ?, quest continuation. Failure: Dismemberment and other gory deaths, decreased closeness to ?]_

I glanced through the quest, and then at the girl. _"Well it's not like I have a choice. Besides, the Gamer is hinting that this would be useful..."_

"Fine" I grumbled, straightening up. She gave a wide, saccharinely sweet smile that promised death if I didn't follow through, and started dragging me along to wherever it was that was her destination.

 _"Maybe this is what it means to have a LUK of zero."_ I lamented internally _"You know what, Touma's refrain is really true"_

 _"Fukou da!"_

* * *

 **Welp. Three guesses as to who the pretty little girl is!**

 **Interestingly, I actually didn't use a calculator in class until university. Even then, it was mostly because we do calculations with complex numbers, and multiplying and dividing them without a calculator is a pain in the ass.**

 **Guest: Touma won't just start distributing his points just like that! It's a valuable resource, especially since you can grind stats without them. The point of the underworld quest is not money really... but yeah, a side benefit, true.**

 **Yup, Ninjas of Love is from RWBY! love that show! The Alpha sprirt, if you didn't notice, was a beowolf**

 **If I didn't explain before, let me explain again. This is a self-insert fic. That is basically a version of me in Touma's body, and I happen to be from India. So when I see a nurse talking to me in Japanese, naturally the first thought that would occour to me is "Why is a nurse speaking in japanese in the middle of India?"**

 **Sakura hasn't been hit by observe, so Touma doesn't know her stats, nor is it really important.**

 **AriaTheLostMelody: Huh. I suppose that's true. Hmmm...**


	9. Arc 1: Ragni

**Proper Beta Credits this time to JediKage96. Helped with the end dialogue, and also a bit for the next chapter. Oh, and grammar. Can't forget the Grammar.**

* * *

"Observe" I subvocalized.

 **Frenda Seivelun**

 **Lv 45**

[HP: 400/400]

[MP: 986/986]

[STR: 28]

[DEX: 45]

[VIT: 30]

[INT: 50]

[WIS: 20]

[CHA: 85]

[LUK: 30]

 _[Frenda Seivelun is a small scale demolitions expert, who uses her knowledge to set up traps to bait her prey into. She is known to be affiliated with the darkside unit codenamed ITEM, under Shizuri Mugino, also known as the Meltdowner, one of the seven level 5 espers known to exist in Academy City]_

 _"Huh. Frenda. The bomb lady. Or girl. You know, now that I think of it, why are all of the most dangerous characters children? None of the espers are adults, as far as I have known, at least no one powerful is. Is there a reason for that?"_

The streets we were walking through started to become more and more sparsely populated as we walked on. Starting to get bored of the silence, I thought I could make some progress trying to work out her destination.

"So, where are you taking me?" I asked her.

"None of your concern" she replied.

"That's cold of you" I said. "I need some incentive to keep this up"

"Your life is your incentive"

I snorted, and said "A little pea-shooter is not even close to enough to kill me, you know?"

She raised an eyebrow at that. "Why did you play along then?"

"There were people around. Didn't want anyone to get hurt." I said

 _[_ _ **Bluff**_ _has gone up by 1]_

 _"Okay, that has to be the most irritating pop-up to keep coming up"_

She gave me a feral little grin "Someone is confident, hmmmm? Strong powers as an esper?"

"Oh, my powers aren't that awesome, it-"

 _[_ _ **Bluff**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Bluff**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

My eyebrow twitched violently at that. Thankfully, Frenda wasn't facing me when I said that. She was scanning the road for something, and she didn't note my stumble. _"Probably enemies"_

 _"Speaking of which..."_

"What, or whom are you running from, pretty lady?" I asked, putting a hand behind my back, out of her line of sight, and started charging a Rasengan.

"And why would I tell you that" She said distractedly.

"Tell you what, let's strike a deal. You tell me what it is you are running from, and I will do my best to make sure you reach your destination safely" I said.

She turned to look at me, and then snorted.

"You will do that anyway, if you want to live at the end of this" she said.

In response, brought out my hand, which had a fully charged ball of energy dancing around it. She froze for a second, and that was all the time I needed to press her against me, coincidentally preventing her from accessing her gun, which was now wedged between the two of us in her coat.

"See, I don't want to use this little thing" I said, gesturing with the Rasengan in my hand. Her eyes tracked it's movement."I have no interest in reporting you to what passes for the authorities in this place, nor do I have any fear of you hurting me. So, tell me who you are running from, and I will help you get away from them. A win-win"

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't think of trying to rush me. I have ways of attracting attention that don't involve me using my mouth, and are far flashier. I doubt you want that" I added, reading her intentions.

She glared at me for a few seconds, while I just gave her a cocky smirk, charging the Rasengan up further. She then sighed.

"Fine. It's not like I have a choice" she grumbled out begrudgingly.

I relaxed my grip on her a little, keeping the Rasengan up. "Alright then" I said, "Start talking"

She glared at the ball in my hand, and then said "I robbed a little gang of their merchandise, but one of them had some sort of power to see through walls or something of the sort, so I couldn't escape undetected"

"I am assuming this is the sort of merchandise that can't be reported?" I asked

"Got it in one." she replied, nodding along, "About fifteen kilos of a drug called Nostalgia"

"Nostalgia?" I asked, confused.

"Allows the user to live through their happiest memories when in effect" she said, "Dangerously addictive"

"Hmmm...and I assume you are going to a fence to sell it?" I said.

She snorted at that. "Of course not. I want to remain in one piece. The Ragni would have my head if she found out that I was circulating this shit around"

"Ragni?" I asked _"That word seems familiar...Isn't it...Sanskrit?"_

 _[Importing from Saved Data...]_

 _[Import Successful!]_

 _[_ _ **Language Proficiency-Sanskrit**_ _(Lv 10)(Passive): A skill that allows you to read, write and articulate in the language:_ _ **Sanskrit**_ _. The higher the level of the skill, the greater the ease of understanding]_

"The leader of the most efficient information network and off the grid delivery system in Academy City. She keeps the balance in the city, and any sort of organized crime goes through her." Frenda replied.

"And she doesn't approve of drugs?" I asked.

Frenda nodded. "Brings on too much heat", she said. "Honestly, I did those brats a favor, if Ragni had caught wind of them, nobody would ever find their bodies."

I snorted at that. "Yeah right. Like that would be motivation enough for you."

She grinned at that. "Of course not. One of the smaller organizations in the city caught wind of them, and contracted me to get it out of their hands, and into theirs"

"Hmmmm...So you are going to a drop point then?" I said.

She snorted again. "Of course not. I want to live, thank you very much. Nope, this is going straight to one of Ragni's contacts. Let her deal with it"

"Hmmm. Alright then. Let's do this" I said, dispelling the Rasengan, and relaxing my grip on her.

"Do what?" she asked, confused.

"Complete our date of course" I said, giving a winning smile.

I received a elbow to the stomach for that.

* * *

While we walked to wherever it was that Frenda was to drop of her Nostalgia (and didn't that sound weird?), I was trying to remember what Ragni meant.

 _"Ragni...Ragni... Ugh! I know that word, it's just there in the background. Gahhh!"_

While I was racking my brain for answers that may or may not have existed in there, Frenda stewed in silence. Apparently, me getting the better of her was a mood killer.

I smirked when she told me that.

A few minutes of mutual silence later, We found ourselves at one of those small ramen shops that were endemic to all Japanese cities.

Frenda let go of my hand, and said "Well, this is the place. Your job is done, now shoo!"

I raised an eyebrow at her. "I did say I would escort you, but I never said I would leave after that"

"What?" she said, caught completely flat footed.

Before she could recover, I walked into the (curiously empty) shop, and took a seat. A few seconds later she followed, and took a seat next to me.

"What do you think you are doing?" she hissed into my ear.

I just grinned at her, and waved at the woman who was running the shop. "One egg ramen for me, and the lady here has a package for Ragni" I said, jabbing a thumb in Frenda's direction.

The woman had an oddly dreamy look in her eyes, though she responded to my words by raising her eyebrows first at me, and then at Frenda.

Frenda seemed torn for a second between wanting to murder me immediately, or responding to the woman's unspoken question. She took a deep breath, and turned away from me.

"Is there a place less...open than this? It is...sort of sensitive, the stuff that I have." Frenda asked.

The woman wordlessly motioned to Frenda to follow, while I continued to eat my ramen.

 _[Quest_ _ **Playing Charades**_ _Complete!]_

 _[You have gained 5000 EXP!]_

I dismissed the notification as I finished my food, wondering what to do next. I had initially hoped that Frenda would just give the drugs to the woman, giving me a chance to involve myself in the resulting conversation, instead of going in and talking in private. It had been a long shot, but it was worth trying.

The woman peeked back out through the pair of doors that Frenda had walked through.

"Well!? Aren't you coming? Is your ramen that important?" She asked bitingly.

 _"Or I could get invited in as well..."_ I thought, grinning to myself.

* * *

The woman led me and Frenda (who glared at me, but didn't protest against my presence) through the kitchen and into a small room.

The room was...elaborate to say the least. It looked like a room out of a fantasy castle, with tapestries on the walls, a thick, beautiful rug and cozy armchairs. The only thing absent was a roaring fire.

The decor caused my eyebrows to shoot up, though Frenda didn't react to it at all, leading me to believe that she had been here before.

In the armchair was a woman sipping tea from an ornate cup, with a bunch of other sweets on a small trolley in front of her. She had golden hair, and was dressed up to the nines, and wore a mask like she was about to go for a formal masquerade ball. It was her name tag that caught my eye though

 **The Ragni**

 **Lv: ?**

It...wasn't what I expected, to say the least. I tried hitting her with Observe.

 _[_ _ **Observe**_ _Failed! The mental defences of the target are greater than your skill with this ability!]_

 _[_ _ **Observe**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

Ragni glanced at me for a second, and visibly stilled. She slowly set her cup down, and turned to Frenda. "So, what do you have for me, Frenda?" She asked.

"I was contracted by the Haruka faction to recover some goods that had been taken by a cell of theirs that went rogue. I wasn't told what it was, and when I found out, I brought it straight here" she replied.

She tilted her head at Frenda, and then motioned with her hand. The woman with the dreamy eyes from earlier handed her the bag that I had seen slung around Frenda's shoulders.

Upon opening it, a small, locked suitcase was revealed.

"The password is 5568" Frenda said without being prompted.

Ragni punched in the numbers, and the case opened, revealing a several glass vials filled with a greenish liquid, and an injector.

"Nostalgia" Ragni hissed, the hatred clear in her voice.

Frenda nodded at that.

"Hmmm...You will be compensated for this" she said. "Don't worry about the Haruka faction, I will take care of them."

Frenda relaxed at that. "Thanks" she said.

Ragni hummed her acknowledgement, seemingly distractedly. She snapped out of it a few seconds later, and then asked "How is it that you are taking contracts? I thought that you were under a long-term commitment? You refused quite a few of my assignments."

"Ehehe...It's a bit slow at the moment. Besides, what people don't know won't hurt them right?" Frenda said.

Ragni sighed. "Alright then. I will arrange for an appropriate compensation for you breaking your contract." She said. "You may go."

I wanted to talk to her, but figured that now we were (more or less) introduced, I could get in touch later. A drug handover was probably not the best place to try and sell the books I had stolen from the Library. I turned around and started to follow Frenda out.

The woman with the dreamy eyes held a hand out in front of me, barring my way.

"You, I need to talk to. Alone" Ragni said in a dangerous tone.

I frowned at that.

Frenda gave me a look that said _"Who the hell are you?"_ before fleeing out of the room.

I turned to face Ragni, curious as to what about me had caught her attention.

"How did you manage to get tangled up with a drug deal of all things?" She asked.

I was caught off-guard by that. "Ummm...What?"

She sighed exasperatedly. "This is the first time I have seen or heard of Frenda having a partner, especially one so young. How did that happen?"

"Ummm... I was conscripted? I didn't have a choice, she basically held me at gunpoint, and forced me to play the part for her to get here safely" I said.

"Then why are you here?" she asked.

"What?" I asked oh-so-eloquently.

"Why are you in here?" she clarified. "Frenda would've ditched you ages ago if it were up to her."

"Ah. That. Through an unlucky set of circumstances, I found myself with some contraband which I can't report, and when I got accosted by a criminal, I thought I would take advantage of the situation."

"What contraband?" She demanded, crossing her arms.

"Textbooks.", I said, nonchalantly.

She took a moment to process that.

"...What?"

* * *

 **Another short chapter. Could've been longer, but this was a good break point so...**

 **Guest: Yup, that was Frenda. Yumiya is the sniper right? For some reason, the idiot named JediKage96 missed that him was her. Git. Thanks for that though.**

 **I didn't know that they were both last names. Just took two random names off the top of my head and cobbled them together. Meh, irrelevant anyway.**

 **New Response to Guest: I appreciate your reviews, but for God's sake, if you have nitpicks, send those to me in a PM. And don't reply to this on the reviews either. And seriously, while the first review was important (I forgot about Frenda's MP and LUK), the one's after that were sort of...redundant? Certianly they didn't merit a review. An accidentally capitalized K? seriously?**


	10. Arc 2: Index

**Beta creds to JediKage96 as usual. Also, I have slightly edited chapter 1 to reflect that it's an SI fic. Not much, just a couple of lines at the bottom, not particularly important**

 **Insert standard disclaimer**

* * *

"You have...textbooks as contraband?" Ragni asked as she picked up her teacup again, taking a sip.

I nodded. "I somehow ended up with library copies of a few books"

Her face whipped towards mine. I could feel her interest sharpening, though I couldn't figure out why.

"Which library?" she asked.

"The District 7 public library..."

"How did you manage that?!" she all but demanded.

"What? It's a public library..." I said, confused.

"Yes, it's a public library, but books are tracked. Every library book has a tracker in it that activates when the book leaves the library, unless it has been checked out." she said.

Huh. That's new.

"Umm...Isn't that...expensive?" I asked, confused as to why a public library would go to such lengths to secure their books against theft.

"Maybe so, but it is needed. Library copies are quite sought after, at least on the black market" she said.

My eyebrows climbed up at that. "Why so? They are just textbooks, I am sure that they can be bought in any bookstore." I said.

"Yes, any bookstore- within Academy City. Not outside of it. It is not legal for publishers to print books for selling outside the city unless approved by the Directorate of Dissemination. Any book purchased within the city is registered to its owner, and has a unique identifier that can be tracked. The movement of any and all print and electronic media is strictly monitored throughout the city." she said.

"Okay. Then why library books?" I asked.

"They aren't registered to a person. It belongs to the city, and thus makes the purchase truly anonymous. It is impossible to find an unregistered copy outside of a library. Thus, library books are quite well guarded against theft." she said. "How did you come to possess them?"

"Eh, I have my ways" I said, brushing off the inquiry. "How much are they worth?" I asked

Ragni looked at me intently for a few seconds before replying. "Anywhere between five thousand to twenty thousand yen, depending on the content and year of publication. There are a few restricted books that can go for even higher prices, but those are not stuff you find at a public library"

I ruthlessly tamped down on the shock I was feeling at those figures. It wouldn't do to show these people that I had no idea as to what I had stumbled across.

"Hmm... Interesting..." was all I said in response, though I was hyperventilating on the inside.

Ragni stared at me some more, before shaking her head slightly. "We have gotten off topic though. While I am _very_ interested as to how you liberated books from a library, that was not why I wanted to talk to you alone." she said.

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Why did you want to talk to me alone then?"

"A favor and a warning, Kamijou Touma." she said, instantly putting me on guard. I had never introduced myself, and I doubted the original Touma had gotten himself purposefully involved with the City's underbelly. Though, given his luck, he might've gotten involved by accident.

"Stay away from the organized elements of the City's criminal element. It's something that drags you in the more you interact with it." she said.

I snorted at that. "Given my luck, I will most probably end up in someplace like this anyway. It would probably be better if I got into it in a controlled fashion, instead of suddenly finding myself in the middle of a small war when I go out on some completely unrelated errand." I said. "Come to think of it, that was _exactly_ what happened today as well."

Ragni just sighed at me. "I have given my warning, do what you will with it." she said.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "How did you know my name?" I asked.

"That is for me to know, and for you to find out" she said, amusement leaking through in her tone. "Now, shoo. I have other things to do. You can bring the books here later if you want them to be valued and auctioned. Kaguya here-" she said, motioning in the direction of the dreamy woman, "- will answer many questions you may have."

"Alright then. I shall be visiting again another time then" I said, getting up, tamping down on my curiosity and wariness.

She nodded absently, her attention falling onto a sheaf of papers Kaguya handed her.

* * *

I glanced at the HUD clock as I sat at the bus stop waiting for the bus.

 _"Five to eight...Hmmm..."_

Up to this point, this day had been...hell to say the least. I didn't get to read Ninjas of Love, I got picked on by my 'friends' _and_ the sloppily dressed PE teacher, and was forced to participate in a drug drop at gun point.

 _"Ugh... and I still have to play with the Illusion Barriers...All I have been doing is playing with the ward I set up at home..."_

I was a bit leery of playing Illusion Barriers immediately though. According to the description, it attracted negative spirits in various forms, and I didn't want to be caught out without a weapon. Mana was limited after all, and Imagine Breaker was far to close ranged for it to be very useful.

 _"Hmmm...can I channel it to other parts of my body?"_ I thought as the bus pulled in to the stop. _"An idea worth experimenting with..."_

 _"I am forgetting something..."_ I thought as I swiped my ID card on the scanner, and taking a seat on the bus. Over the past couple of days, I found out that my ID card was pretty much all that I needed to get around the city. I didn't even need a PIN for the ATM, it accepted my ID along with a finger print. Far more secure, frankly, and very convenient too.

 _"Hmmm...what next...?"_

I got in touch with the underground, so I assumed that the quest would update once I actually sold the books I didn't want to the Ragni's organization. I also needed to decide one way or another about Sakura, and I needed to call Misaka. I also needed to figure out why Ragni was interested in _me_ specifically. She called me out to give me a warning to not get involved with the underground, but at the same time, did nothing to actually enforce the warning, even subtly encouraging me to get rid of the books through her.

I sighed, and then discreetly brought my phone out of inventory. I then proceeded to dial Misaka's number.

She picked up a couple of rings later. "Hello?"

"Hello? Misaka-san?"

"Kamijou-kun! You actually called?!"

"What's with the tone of surprise?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

"Uhhhh..." she said, struggling to answer. However, before she could do anything, another indistinct voice came over in the background.

"Who's that?" I asked.

" _That_ is my new roommate..." she said, an odd mixture of exasperation and fondness in her voice.

Before she could say anymore, there was a sound of a small scuffle.

"KUROKOOO!"

There was a rush of static, and then the beeping of a disconnected call.

I looked at the phone for a second, before snorting in amusement. _"Looks like Kuroko is here"_

I dismissed the quest completion notification I got for completing the trust issues quest, and sighed again.

 _"What now..."_

* * *

After reaching home, I dug into one of the bowls of instant ramen that Touma had stocked, and crashed. The next day, thankfully, was a holiday, so I disabled the alarms, intending to sleep in.

I woke up the next morning to be greeted by a new update notification.

 ** _[The Gamer V1.02]_**

 _[1. Party System Enabled! You can now create Parties using the Gamer._

 _2\. Telecommunication Integration System Enabled! This feature can be accessed through the Inventory._

 _3\. Save Files are now enabled! You can view currently saved files through the Settings menu! The sytem will autosave at 00:00 hours every day!]_

 _"Saved files?!"_

Still lying on the bed, I brought up the settings menu. There were two new options; one for party and the other labeled as Saved Data. Tapping it resulted in a new screen popping up.

 _[_ _ **Saved Data**_ _]_

 _[_ _ **Slot 1**_ _:_ T̷̻̟͙͚̗͎̥̭̽ͮ͐͛͐̾̆oͦ̊ͤ̽̅ͧ̆ͬ͂͋̃ͨ̒̈͐́̒̔͐҉͏̞̭͔̹u̙͖͕̥̪̩̔͑͊ͭ͂̅͆̄͗ͩ̓ͫ̿ͥ͠ŕ̋͗ͯ́ͪ͏̸̷̷̲̘̼̤͠a̸̾͆̆̎̄̿͐̊̍̓ͣͬ͗̚͢͏̡̬̼̣̠̫̣̘͕̺̲m̡̨̜̳̫̪̙̬̹ͬ͂̈́ͧͪ̉̔ͭͣã̶̵͉̘͖̘̞͎̳͓̪̺̜͖ͧ͆̂ͪ͒͐͛ͮ̕ͅͅ ̷̴͚̻̺̜͎͈͈̆ͯ̉̓͐͊̈̃̇ͪ̚͝K̺̩͍͇͇̯͕̫̝̺̮̬͋ͨͭ̃̆̊ͮ̏̿ͨ̇̿̅̉ͭ͐̊̑̀͜͢ͅh̴̘̝̣͉͙̩͔͚̲͖̮̠̩̻̄ͮ̀̎̏͌ͨ̌̂̕ͅa̢̨̜̜̙̝̟͕̻ͨ́́ŗ̵͓͎̗͉̙̱̞̞̙͙̜͈̙̟̝͖͒́͆ͧ̎̎m̢̓ͣͩͣ̈́̿ͦͮ̾̈́ͮ҉̢̺̟͍͓͞͡i͓͕̣͇̹͍̟͙̰͙͙̥͇̬̘̙̙̼̼ͬͩ͒̇ͤ͋̌̓ͨͣͩ̒̀͢͡͞j͎̳̬̲̺̙̞̮̲̯̗̆ͪͣ͂̾ͤͫ̽̑̕͟ͅo̗͙̝̳ͧ͌̇̏͌ͤͦ̋̾̿͂͐̏ͬͪ̓͒ͨ̀u̧̦̘̜̯͙̠̫͎̱̗͎̼̱̜ͥͨͧ͂̉̐ͬ̾̂ͭ̊̑ͣͨ̈́͊̚͠͡ͅ.

 _Updated: June 17, 20:18_

 _Inactive]_

 _[_ _ **Slot 2**_ _:_ T̶̺̙͙̯̩͓̼͓̦̋̄̄͐̾ͦ͊͢͞͝͡a̓̈́͐͆͛̿̊̅ͬͤͩ̒̍͐̚͡҉̘͔̬͔ń͊̓͗͛̋̑ͥͪ͗̊͋̃̋̓̌ͫͥ͘͝͏̪̣͚̦͖̳̲̳͈̜̻̜̯͖͞ͅm̨͓̺̗̹͈̝͕̲̝͇̓̉ͩͮͪ̓̌͗̄̽̂̀͘͟͡ͅa̴̡̡̢̪̞̺͉͍̭̮̲̺̘̘͚̋̽̊͗̿͌̑̉ͤͭͅy̢ͧ̓ͩ͒̆̒ͭ̈́͌̊̑ͪ̔̽̄ͣ̌͏̣̘̹̯̳̗ ̊ͣ̔͋̍̽҉̭͍̮̬̘̝Kͭͭ̎̓͛̓͊͑͒ͦ̒̍̿̊̚҉̶̠̺͈̝̭̠̰͖̥̮̟͉̥̥͎̹̯̤͟͞h̷̷̡̡̧͍͚͕͙͙̟ͫ̂̉̓͊ͧͮ̈͆͛̌āͣ͌̄ͩ̍͑̅̾̄̏͂̔ͩͬ̊͆͂̚҉̢͖͕̻̭̪̪́̀͝rͧͤͩͦͫ̽̐͆̏҉̵͔̠̼̬͕eͬͫ͐̑͌͗̀̀҉̯̻̜̪̭̮̝̣

 _Updated: ?_

 _Inactive]_

 _[_ _ **Slot 3**_ _: Touma Kamijou_

 _Updated: June 20, 00:00_

 _Active]_

The remaining slots were empty.

I assumed that the one labeled as active was the current me, and of the remaining two, the first was the original Touma, and the second the old me, given that the date was a series of question marks. I wasn't able to read either name.

Frowning, I clicked on the first file, and immediately got a notification.

 _[This file is corrupted! Would you like to attempt to repair this file?]_

My eyebrows went up at that, and I clicked on yes. If it worked, it would be incredibly useful. While I wasn't sure what would happen if I activated it, I would still (hopefully) get some data from it that wasn't imported skills.

Upon clicking yes, a progress bar lit up at the bottom of the save slot, showing the debugging progress.

Clicking on the second slot gave the same message, and I started debugging on that one too. I wasn't sure what would happen, but ehh, what harm could there be in trying?

I picked up my phone from the table I had set it on for the night, given that I wasn't sure how it would work from the Inventory, and didn't want to miss a call because of that.

Upon putting it into Inventory, I got a notification.

 _[A Cellular Phone has been added to the Inventory. Do you wish to integrate its functions?]_

I clicked on yes, and the phone disappeared from its slot in the inventory. Instead, a new button appeared below the minimap, displaying a scaled model of my phone.

 _[The MD-4761 Basic has been Integrated into the inventory. You can now access all of its functions through the Integrated Communications button below the minimap. Integrating better phones leads to unlocking of better features]_

I grinned at that. The Gamer is Awesome!

 _[By acknowledging the greatness of The Gamer, your WIS has gone up by 1!]_

 _" Annnd back to the crappy humor..."_ I thought to myself.

I went back to the settings, and clicked on the "Party" option.

Opening the Party menu gave me a slew of options. According to it, Party was a verbal command, and sending an invite required me to give the recipients' name. The option to change the party leader was greyed out, but there other options for roles, each customizable.

I hummed as I scrolled through the options. I wondered how much a party member would be able to do, how much of the Gamer's abilities they would be able to access, and more importantly, how much information _I_ could access as the default party leader. _"Hmmm...I need to have another meetup with Misaka then, given that she is the only one who knows about the Gamer..."_

Closing the Party menu, I got myself out of bed, idly noting that it was around half past ten in the morning.

Suddenly, there was ringtone blaring right in my ear.

I jumped at that, then glared at the screen which was telling me to pick up or reject a call. _"I need to reduce its volume."_ I thought as I accepted the call.

"Moshi moshi? Kamijou-kun?" A high pitched voice came across the phone.

"Yes?" I replied.

"This is Komoe-sensei here. I called to remind you that you have remedial classes from eleven thirty today."

"Umm...what?"

"Kamijou-san! I will not accept any excuses! You will be present today for the class, or else...or else...ummm...I will hand you over to Yomikawa-sensei!" she said, in what I assumed was a threatening voice. Not that it sounded like one.

I sighed. "Yes Ma'am. I will be there"

There was an approving hum from the other end of the line before the call ended. I dismissed the notification which gave the call duration, and forced myself out of bed.

Yawning, and I walked to the small balcony that was attached to my room, and froze at the sight in front of me.

There was a girl with silver hair and green eyes, wearing a white nun's habit hanging of the railing of my balcony.

 **Index Librorum Prohibitorum**

 **Lv 38**

* * *

 _"This is bad...this is very, very bad"_ I thought as Index demolished a significant part of the supplies I had intended for me to last the rest of the week. _"Things are going to heat up, very literally, and I am nowhere_ _ **near**_ _prepared to handle it. I figured that I had a couple of weeks more before Index dropped in!"_

Thing was, my memories were still vague. I could remember vague snippets and certain people, but not much else.

But one thing I remembered vividly was Stiyl and Innocentius.

 _"I going to have to fight a frikkin fire demon tonight, and I have no idea how! The only things I have are Basic mana manipulation and Imagine Breaker."_ I thought as I desperately tried to figure out what I needed to do.

I also couldn't let anyone find out that I knew of events to come, however vague the recollection, nor did I want people to find out about Imagine Breaker. According to what I remembered, It was Touma's involvement with Index that brought him to the notice of both the Church and the City as the wielder of Imagine Breaker, and leading to half of the complications after.

I took a deep breath, calming myself down. I then looked at the still-feasting Index.

"Who are you and why were you on my balcony?" I asked, even though I knew, thanks to both the Gamer and my vague foreknowledge, useless as it was.

"Ah. My name is Index, and I was jumping across the roofs." she said calmly between mouthfuls, causing my eyebrow to twitch.

"And why were you jumping between roofs? These buildings are eight stories high!"

"I was running away from the magicians chasing me" she replied.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **A Nun Indeed is a Nun in Need**_ _]_

 _[A (apparently) ten year old nun has landed on your balcony, and is being chased by magicians for unknown purposes. Protect Index from the various people who are after her virtues (who knows of which type?)]_

 _[Rewards: 20000 EXP, increased closeness to Index, increased closeness to ?, increased closeness to ?, +1 companion. Failure: Decreased closeness to Index, Death by Burning or painful dismemberment]_

I dismissed the notifications, and addressed Index. "And why are magicians chasing you?" I asked, for appearances sake.

"They are after the 103,000 forbidden Grimoires that I possess" she said.

"Magical Grimoires" I said in a flat tone.

"Magical Grimoires" she agreed, happily munching through her second helping of cup ramen.

I put a hand on my face, and slowly dragged it down across it.

 _"Mendoksai ne!"_

* * *

Having no idea what to do with Index, I let her go, figuring that she would end up at my doorstep later when she felt hungry.

I spent the rest of the day in a state of nervous anticipation, trying to figure out ways to defeat Stiyl and Innocentius without Imagine Breaker. I was so distracted, I accidentally ignored Komoe when she asking me a question, which ended up in her giving another one of her heart-wrenching looks.

A endured the next few hours of classes, and dashed out of the classroom the moment the bell rand, ignoring the voices of Motoharu and Peirce. I needed solitude to think things through before I got back home.

as I slowly walked towards my home, trying to avoid the inevitable, a voice out called my name.

"Kamijou-kun!"

I turned in the direction of the voice, and I had a brainwave. I knew what I had to do.

"There you are." a panting Misaka Mikoto said, hands on her knees. "I have been trying to get a hold of you all day!"

* * *

 **And that's a wrap.**

 **Something I would like to say. I will NOT be writing lemons, not unless the feelings of one or more of the participants during the act is of particular importance to the story. Given that this is not a romance, it is highly unlikely that something like that will happen. I don't have anything against the idea, but lemons just for the heck of it is stupid. This isn't a porno, it's a story, and I have no interest in writing in explicit detail about casual sexual encounters, especially since they are completely irrelevant to the plot.**

 **Once again, thanks to JediKage96 for betaing the chapter.**


	11. Arc 2: Clearing the Field

"Misaka-san" I said, grinning brightly at her, "You are just the person I need."

"Eh?" she asked, still panting.

"New update today", I said. "Want to test it out, and you are the only one I know", I said, grabbing her arm and dragging her along.

"W-Wait! Where are you taking me?!" she asked, digging her feet in.

I grunted in frustration. "I just need you, come on!" I said.

Her face went beet red all of a sudden at that, causing me to frown in confusion.

"W-What are you saying, you idiot!" she nearly shouted, causing me to wince. She then frowned at me, the color fading from her face. "That is extremely disconcerting", she muttered, pulling her hand out of my grip, and examining it for a second.

"What is?" I asked, confused, and also slightly panicked. I didn't want to face Innocentius alone after all, the testing session was just an excuse to drag her to my dorm.

"When you grabbed me, I couldn't feel anything..." she said, frown deepening, examining her hand. "I couldn't feel the currents..."

I nearly face palmed at my stupidity. In my haste, I had grabbed her by my right hand. The last time I did that, she had been too flustered to notice anything, but now...

"I will explain later..." I sighed. "Just...come along"

* * *

"Say, just what did you want to test out?" Misaka asked, peering at me curiously as we walked towards my dorm.

I grinned at her. "Watch." I said, holding up a finger.

"Create Party: Pikachu, I choose you!" I said.

 _[Party: **Pikachu, I choose you!** has been created]_

"Send Invite: Misaka Mikoto" I said.

Misaka jumped, causing me to smirk. "Cool!" She said, marveling at what I assumed was the party request, given that I couldn't see if anything had appeared at her end

She jabbed at the air in front of her, and then her eyes widened.

"Okay, first of all, having an HUD at all times is an amazingly handy ability. Especially with a minimap." she said. "Wonder how that works though. Actually, how does your power work in the first place?! It is nothing like the esper powers developed here." she said, glancing at me for an answer.

I shrugged. "I have no clue myself. All I know is that I woke up three days ago with almost no memories of my past, and an inexplicable power that imitates an RPG"

"Huh." Misaka said, a thoughtful expression on her face. "What's a Pikachu?" She asked.

I snorted in amusement. "It's from an extremely old cartoon from the 1990's. It's apt for the situation." I said.

She glared at me suspiciously. However, before we could do anything more, I got a notification.

 _[A **People Clearing Field** has been created!]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[ **Clearing the Field (Part I)** ]_

 _[You have stumbled into a mysterious people clearing field. Investigate the source of the field, and the purpose for which it was set up._

 _Reward: 500 EXP, Quest continuation. Failure: Loss of future prospects, lots and lots of death, maybe even yours!]_

 _[A quest has been updated!]_

 _[ **Kami the Harem God: Protection is a Must!]**_

 _[Protection is an important part of building your own harem. Prevent any and all women with an active **Kami the Harem God** quest pertaining to them from taking more than 10% damage when they accompany you into a battle situation_

 _Rewards: Increased closeness to said damsels in distress, 200EXP for every percentage point above 90% that the target has at the end of the battle situation with a 1000EXP bonus for no damage taken.]_

"What is a people clearing field?" Misaka asked as I started to sweat bullets, frantically dismissing notifications, depending on the Gamer's Mind to prevent me from reacting too much to the quests.

"I don't know, but I think the name is pretty self-explanatory." I said, gesturing at our surroundings, noting the lack of other people, internally facepalming at the sense of inappropriate humor that my powers seemed to display.

 _"If what I remember is right, Kanzaki is the one who set up a people clearing field...but the order is wrong. Will it be Stiyl who comes?"_

Misaka in the meanwhile was frowning at me. "Did you get some sort of quest?", she asked. Her eyes then lit up. "Is there going to be a boss battle?!"

I scowled at her. "I did get a quest...but it's vague. And boss battles also cause you to die, and we don't get second lives" I said, causing her to sober up.

"Alright. But what is going on?" she asked.

Before I could answer, there was an explosion, which appeared to have taken place not more than a block away.

I cocked an eyebrow at Misaka. "Let's go find out, shall we?" I said.

* * *

A couple of minutes later, we found ourselves at ground zero. In the time it took us to jog down to the site of the first explosion, there had been two others.

 _"Index should be fine though...she still has the Walking Church..."_ I thought.

The street across us had been blasted apart. One of the shop fronts was completely obliterated, while the shops next to it were half gone as well. Flames licked the edges of the crater, though they had mostly guttered out.

"No esper could do this." Misaka muttered.

I glanced at her. "Why ever not? I _know_ that there are pyrokinetic espers!"

Misaka shook her head. "The strongest pyrokinetic is a level 4. She has nowhere near enough power to cause damage in this fashion. The are other, stronger, espers who can cause this much damage, but not in this pattern." she said, gesturing to the crater and the fires surrounding it. "This looks like a giant fireball was thrown at the shop. The pyrokinetic I was talking about is a Tokiwadai student, and I know for a fact that the largest fireball she can conjure is lesser than a meter in diameter. This looks like at least four times that in size."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "How do you know all of that?"

She smirked. "Firstly, I am smart. Second, when I first joined Tokiwadai, that girl challenged me to a duel...needless to say, she lost spectacularly..."

I rolled my eyes at her, and then started scanning the minimap for any other people. Usually, it would be crowded with yellow dots, which I assumed marked neutral parties. Right now, one green dot corresponding to Misaka was on the map.

A couple of seconds later, two new dots appeared on the edge of the minimap.

"You see that? On the minimap, that is." I asked Misaka.

"Yup. What does the color indicate?" She asked.

"That they are neutral, I think. Most people show up as yellow. But given that we are in a people. clearing field, they shouldn't be there..." I said.

Misaka nodded. "Let's go!"

We made our way to the markers on the map. On the way, we came across a couple more craters, though smaller than the first.

We reached the end of the street a couple of minutes later. According to the map, the two were right around the corner, out of direct line of sight.

Motioning for Misaka to stop, we both peeked around the corner so as to not attract attention.

The two people were facing each other in a ring of flames, with us coming up directly behind them.

The person facing us as we peeked out was a short, hooded figure, making it difficult for me to make out what his face looked like.

 **Aries Zettour**

 **The Scourge of Jerusalem**

 **Lv 32**

He was also wielding a ball of flame in one hand, making the source of the explosions apparent.

Opposite to the hooded guy, with her back to us, was Index. Her face was smudged with soot. More worryingly, part of her nun's habit had been burnt off on the left side, though she seemed to be fine, if out of breath.

 _"What happened to Stiyl? And how did the Walking Church get damaged?!"_ I thought, confused.

"What sort of name is Index?" Misaka whispered to me.

Before I could answer, the one labeled as Aries started talking.

"Give it up, Index. I do not wish to cause any more collateral damage, and the Walking Church cannot stop my flames." He said, sending a chill down my spine. _"Can't be stopped by the Walking Church? I thought that it nullified all magical and physical attacks!"_ I thought. If what he said was true, then we were in big trouble.

 _[Quest **Clearing the Field (Part I)** has been completed!]_

 _[You have gained 500 EXP!]_

 _[A quest has been updated!]_

 _[ **Clearing the Field (Part II)** ]_

 _[You have found the reason for the emergence of a People Clearing Field. Rescue Index from her attacker, and find out more about her assailant and his or her purposes without making either of them aware of the existence of The Gamer and any of its powers._

 _Rewards: 8000 EXP, increased closeness to Index, other, nebulous benefits, quest continuation. Failure: decreased closeness to Index, quest continuation]_

 _[ **BONUS** : Prevent further damage to buildings within the field._

 _Rewards: 1000 EXP]_

Meanwhile, Aries continued to monologue at Index.

"You are unable to use magic, except to interrupt my spells, and I doubt you can do that or dodge for much longer. The only reason I haven't burnt parts of your body off is that I detest having to hurt someone as young as you, especially one that has been forced to become the vessel of the forbidden library" he said.

All this time, while Aries spoke, they had been slowly circling around each other, keeping to the edges of the ring of flames.

Index scowled at Aries, and then piped up in a childish voice, "I was never forced to become the vessel for the Grimoires, and am proud to perform my duties to the Church!"

Aries snorted in disgust. "Of course you are. But that's beside the point. Surrender peacefully, or suffer my displeasure." he said, increasing the diameter of the ball in her hand.

"4BXR E56S 45IH GFU3" Index intoned.

The ball forming in Aries hand guttered out.

"That is a singularly irritating ability you have there" Aries snarled. "It matters not" he said, and lunged for Index, at the same time, forming another fireball in his left hand, forcing Index to dodge. Aries continued to chase after Index, forcing her to concentrate on dodging his strikes, not giving her time to disrupt Aries' spell. All the while, the fireball in Aries hand was growing larger.

 _"The quest says- explicitly- that I shouldn't reveal any of my Gamer powers. So the only way to win this fight is to use Imagine Breaker, or..."_ I thought as I observed the fight, my gaze drifting towards Misaka, who looked at me questioningly.

"Can you attack the flame wielder through the ring of flames?" I whispered to her.

Misaka nodded. "Easily. At least five different ways. You want it done discreetly or flashy?" she asked.

I raised an eyebrow at her, and said "Discreetly. He isn't expecting us, and I don't want him to know of our presence here. Makes it easier to hide Index."

"Is that what your quest said? To rescue the one named Index?" Misaka asked.

I nodded in response.

"Do you know why?" Misaka queried.

"No, not really. Besides, this is not the time for questions, Index is going to get incinerated." I said.

"Do you know what they were talking about?" she asked.

I gave her a look. "I get that you are curious, but save it for later. I don't know what they were talking about, and I intend to find out, but I can't do that till you knock Aries out." I said.

Misaka nodded. "I will hold you to that." she said, sparks forming across her fingers as he prepared for something.

For the next few seconds, nothing happened, except for Aries almost catching up to Index. When she missed her lunge, she allowed Index to gain some distance, preparing to throw the now massive fireball.

Suddenly, there was flash of light along the ground, and Aries muscles stiffened up and then started convulsing. A few seconds later, he dropped on the ground, clothes slightly charred and smoking, the fireball having dissipated. The moment he fell, the ring of flames trapping Index guttered out, leading me to believe that it too had been a minor spell being maintained by Aries.

"Out of curiosity, what did you do?" I asked Misaka.

"Rearranged the conducting particles in the ground such that they would form a path between me and him. The moment he was standing in one place, I could complete the path, and shocked him through the ground" she said in a bored voice.

I chuckled at that. Espers were so useful.

 _[Quest **Clearing the Field (Part II)** has been completed!]_

 _[You have gained 8000 EXP]_

 _[You have gained one level!]_

 _[You now have 25 stat points!]_

 _[You have completed the bonus quest!]_

 _[You have gained 1000 EXP]_

 _[By exiting a battle situation, you have gained 3000 EXP from the quest **Kami the Harem God: Protection is a Must**!]_

 _[A party quest has been created!]_

 _[ **Sheltering her Holeyness** ]_

 _[Having successfully rescued Index from her attacker, treat her injuries and find shelter for her within the city away from prying eyes. Also discover the motives of her attacker. Bonus points for ensuring that Index doesn't claim to be hungry more than five times a day!_

 _Rewards: 1000 EXP, quest continuation, increased closeness to Index, 200 EXP per day successfully keeping Index's appetite sufficiently satisfied. Failure: Index dies, you live a horrible, boring life, the end.]_

While I was casually dismissing notifications, Misaka was staring wide eyed at some point in front of her.

I glanced at her, then in the direction that she was staring. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, I asked her, "What's wrong?"

"I get quests if I party with you? I get EXP points?" she asked, looking shell shocked, pointing a finger at what I assumed where quest boxes.

I scratched my cheek at that. "Huh. I didn't think about that. It did say it was a party quest..."

Misaka snapped out of her shock, and then looked at me, grinning broadly.

"AWESOME!" she said, bouncing a little. She then jogged to Index, leaving me to catch up.

I reached them just in time to hear Misaka ask "Are you alright?"

Index groaned a little, and then, looking directly into Misaka's eyes, she said.

"I am hungry!"

* * *

 **Sorry for the delay, life has been busy.**

 **Hope you enjoyed the chapter.**

 **Guest: Ragni, very obviously, is a pseudonym. If you search for it on google, you get it's meaning as Lovely Goddess in Norse. However, that is not what it meant to mean anyway. It has a different meaning in Sanskrit, and you won't find it easily on the web. You will find Ragini, which means music, or melody, which is a different word**

 **EDIT 31/8/17: Betaed by JediKage96. Also, there was a bit of a confusion with Aries gender ('cause initially I wanted him to be female, then changed him to male). Should be fixed now, but if you notice anything, please PM me. (PM ONLY! Don't post it in the reviews. *pointedly looks at guest from above* :-) )**


	12. Arc 2:Nuns and Priests

The sheer ridiculousness of the situation, coupled with Misaka's expression had me bursting into a fit of giggles, thoroughly mortifying her.

"Stop giggling!" she said, blushing oh-so-adorably.

Index, in the meanwhile, stood up, and started dusting herself off.

Her stomach then let out an audible growl, causing both me and Misaka to stare.

 _"I thought those were exaggerated reactions..."_

Extremely amused, I walked to the unconscious mage. With my foot, I nudged off the hood, revealing the mage to be a Caucasian male with brown hair and stubble. Curious, I hit him with Observe.

 **Aries Zettour**

 **The Scourge of Jerusalem**

 **Lv 32**

[HP: 1085/1085]

[MP: 800/800]

[STR: 25]

[DEX: 20]

[VIT: 72]

[INT: 65]

[WIS: 50]

[CHA: 12]

[LUK: 36]

 _[Aries Zettour is a mage hunter, whose specialty is the ability to recreate the flames used by the Nebuzaradan to burn down the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of Solomon after his liege, Nebuchadnezzar's, conquest. As a result, the flames he wields are immune to the effects of spells which are used to protect places of worship, or anything derived from the same.]_

 _"In other words, perfect to hunt Index..."_ I thought.

Misaka approached me, peering over my shoulder, Index behind her, clutching her stomach. "What do we do with him?" She asked. "We can't take him with us, and I doubt Index is going to last much longer without any food"

 _"Hmmmm..."_

Concentrating on what I wanted, I tried to see if I would get a result.

 _[_ _ **Skill Creation**_ _failed! INT score of 50 is required to create the skill_ _ **Mana Barrier**_ _]_

 _"Damn.."_ I thought, turning to Misaka.

"Can you ensure he remains unconscious for a while?" I asked.

"Ummm...It's not really predictable, and I don't want to kill him. I have a way to monitor him though, as long as we don't go too far from here." she said.

"How far is too far?" I asked.

"In the city? maybe half a kilometer, lesser even." she said.

"Ugh. That's nowhere near enough..." I said, frustrated with the dilemma of having to feed Index and finding out just who it was that was attacking her.

"Ugh. Why do you want to take him anywhere?" Index asked. "He is an independent mage anyway! Get me food first, and I can tell you all about him!"

"Sure, but we can't just leave him here!" Misaka protested.

Before the argument could go any further, a female voice interrupted us.

"Are you quite done?"

All three of us whipped around to face the direction of the voice. The sight in front of me caused my mouth to dry out.

She was wearing a mask that covered the upper part of her face, revealing gorgeous green eyes flecked with silver, and high cheekbones. She had black hair falling to the small of her back. My eyes immediately went to the scabbard at her side, the gauntlets and bracers on her arms, and the chest plate that she wore. Her entire demeanor, though at this point relaxed, screamed _danger_.

 **The Panty Stealer**

 **Wardrobe Malfuctionist**

 **Lv: ?**

The name was so patently ridiculous, I tried hitting her with observe, just to see what I would get.

 _[_ _ **Observe**_ _failed! The mental defenses of the target are higher than your skill with observe!]_

She turned her head to face me. "That is _very_ interesting. I wonder who taught you to probe at people like that." she said, causing me to stiffen. " Very odd, not at all like the so called psychics you find in this city. Far too specific. Probing for...my name and mana capacity? No...general details?"

She shook her head, then said, "That's beside the point. You won't get anything useful anyway. Now why don't you hand over that nun behind you, hmmm?"

Both Misaka and I scowled at her, and then shifted so that both of us covered her completely.

The woman sighed. "I don't intend to keep her, you know? I just need to ask her a few questions before letting her go"

I snorted at that. "Yeah, no. Don't really know or trust you."

She looked amused at that. Her expression then changed, becoming extremely serious, emitting an aura of pure danger.

"You have ten seconds to move out of the way, or else I shall attack" she said.

 _[Danger Perception has increased by 1!]_

 _[Danger Perception has increased by 1!]_

 _[Danger Perception has increased by 1!]_

 _[Danger Perception has increased by 1!]_

 _[The skill_ _ **Danger Perception**_ _has reached Level 5! The skill can now be evolved into a higher skill once the battle situation has been exited!]_

 _[A quest has been updated!]_

 _[_ _ **Clearing the Field (Part III)**_ _]_

 _[A new, powerful opponent has entered the scene. Get away from her without losing more than 50% of your HP! Bonus points for keeping everybody else safe!_

 _Reward: 12000 EXP, your life, quest continuation.]_

I gulped at the slew of notifications, and the quest. _"It is blatantly telling me to run!?_.

Misaka, on the other hand, was grinning ferally.

"Bring it on" she said, sparks flying from her fingers.

The woman cocked an elegant eyebrow. "So be it." She said. "Time's up anyway."

"Wai-" was all I was able to get out before the woman launched herself at Misaka. One second she was a hundred or so meters away, the next she was within a foot of Misaka.

To her credit, Misaka reacted pretty fast. She was already moving backward, sparks flying, eyes wide as they were with surprise. Black dust had started to move out from the ground around us. A sparking hand was up against her face, attempting to shield it form the oncoming hit

She wasn't fast enough.

With a sickening crack, Misaka flew backward into a building, leaving a crater. She slid down, leaving a bloodstain on the wall, unconscious. On the party screen, her HP fell to lesser than ten percent of its total, along with an unconsciousness status effect, and a slew of other debuffs popping up below her HP bar.

I didn't waste any time in screaming futilely. Instead, I was backpedalling as fast as I could, Index behind me, thinking furiously, trying to come up with a plan to make sure I could get both Index and Misaka out relatively safely.

 _"Observe failed...and she even noticed, so I can't gather any information about her. Based on her speed, she very obviously is either an ability user or a magician, though it is more likely that she is a magician given that she was after Index. Is the speed the result of a spell? Will I be able to negate it?"_

Problem was, I didn't know enough. I was too completely taken by surprise.

The woman in the meanwhile, was checking on Misaka. "Tch. Still alive. I expected more out of a level 5 esper." she said. She then turned to me. "So, little boy, think you can take me on?" she taunted, smirking.

"Touma run, it's me that she is after" Index said from behind me.

I clenched my fist at that.

"That may be so, but I am not abandoning a kid to someone who has no qualms in almost killing someone so casually." I said.

"Well, you had your chance." The woman said, and disappeared.

For some reason, I just knew that she was going to appear to my left, and moved appropriately.

 _[Importing skill from previously saved data...]_

 _[Import Successful!]_

 _[_ _ **Battle Instinct**_ _(Lv 10)(Passive): A skill that allows you to predict the movements of an opponent in battle, gained out of experience in multiple battle scenarios.]_

 _"Touma, you beautiful son of a bitch, you"_ I thought as the woman rocketed past with barely an inch to spare.

"Well, well, well. You managed to dodge." She said, condescension dripping from her voice. It was sort of justified, but still pissed me off to no end. That, and the fact that she was playing with me, judging by her tone.

Worst part was, I really couldn't think of a legit way out of this barring a Deus ex Machina. But I had to try.

Concentrating, I tried seeing if I could create some sort of barrier using mana.

 _[Through a special action, a skill_ _ **Mana Shield**_ _has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Mana Shield**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): It creates a concentrated sheet of mana that has to be anchored to a point to function. It can absorb (20*INT*Skill Level) damage before dissipating. It is invisible to all except the user when not in use. Shape: Square (0.5m X 0.5m). Cost: 200 MP]_

 _"Wow that is expensive. A full forty percent of my current MP"_ I thought. However, I doubted that she would wait long enough for me to do any better. Scowling, I summoned the shield, anchoring it to my left arm.

The masked woman looked at me curiously. "Huh. You did something. Something I can't make out" she said, eyes narrowing at me. "Your way of manipulating mana is odd. Who are you?" she asked, slowly drawing her sword out of her scabbard, nonchalant demeanor falling off completely.

I gulped. _"Not good"_ I thought. I was counting on her underestimating me.

"Answer me." She growled out, sword fully out and held in a two handed grip.

Hiding the spike of fear, I shrugged. "I don't know what you expect. I am just an esper, a weak one at that."

The woman scowled. "You are either lying or have no idea just how unique you are." she said.

I needed to keep her talking. Every moment I kept her talking was moment I could use to think of strategies to escape. Or for Misaka to wake up. While her status was still unconscious, there was a timer on it according to her status bar on the party window just below mine. My MP was also slowly recovering from creating the shield, giving me more options.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I said, "What is it that you see as so unique in me? I have been judged as the weakest of the espers in the city, with zero potential of becoming one at this point of time."

The woman scoffed. "According to what I see, they are right. I can't detect any mana emanating from you...no mana at all. You actively _repel_ mana...which in itself is an anomaly. But I have seen you manipulate it...work with it twice now...It doesn't make sense. You should be powerless, and yet, I see you working with the Living Force..."

I bit back a snort at her phrasing. Did she just call it...the _Living Force_?

Her words, however, brought on a slew of new questions about the nature of my powers despite me possessing Imagine Breaker. Apparently, sensitive enough magicians could sense the flow of mana, and that it didn't apparently flow through me like it did through others was...intriguing, to say the least.

For the moment though, I needed to take her by surprise. Her guard hadn't dropped an inch even as we talked, and I doubted I could take her by surprise easily.

I had to try though.

"Why are you after Index?" I asked, attempting to distract her with more talk, looking for the right moment to hit.

"She is the walking library of forbidden knowledge...knowledge purged from the world. Her value is-"

While she was saying this, her sword fell slightly, unconsciously relaxing. The moment she blinked, I charged, left hand out, a punch leveled to her face, hoping that she would try to hit it, but hit the barrier instead, leaving my right free to hit her, hopefully breaking apart any spells she might have on that chest piece of hers.

She was quick to react , sword up, ready to cut through my hand. Her eyes widened when I continued with the attack without trying to dodge. It was too late for her to correct the course of her weapon, just as I wanted.

Her sword hit the mana shield anchored to my hand, almost breaking through it in one shot, and braking the momentum of both of our attacks, and causing her eyes to widen in surprise.

 _"That would've been a one shot kill strike"_ I thought, gulping at the thought.

Before she could disengage, I struck towards her chest, palm open and glowing.

Wait, _glowing?!_

 _[Through a special action, the skill_ _ **Mana Strike**_ _has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Mana Strike**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): This skill allows you to lace your physical blows with mana, allowing to deal damage many times greater than the raw blow. Effect: Increases damage by (Skill Level*Charge Time in seconds*100)%_

 _Cost: 10MP+ 3MP per second of charging, with a maximum of 15 seconds of charge time]_

The skill notification popped up just as my palm hit her chest.

There was the sound of breaking glass, indicating that Imagine Breaker had gone off, and she _flew_ backwards, crashing through a storefront. I didn't know how much damage she actually took, since Observe wasn't able to give anything more than her fake name, but it certainly _looked_ impressive.

Not wasting anytime, I turned around and grabbed Index, and hurried towards Misaka, hoping that she would at least be able to limp away before the woman recovered, though I doubted that would be the case

By the time I reached her, Misaka was already stirring. Her left arm very obviously broken, a bit of bone sticking out of the skin of her forearm. Index looked very green at that. I was surprised that I wasn't reacting in the same manner. Probably Gamer's Mind at work.

Gently laying her down, I checked for more injuries. Fortunately, other than her arm, and a gash that looked worse than it actually was on the back of her head, she seemed relatively fine.

 _"Huh...She must've cushioned herself somehow..."_ I thought.

At this point, her eyes opened, and though she was clearly disoriented, I needed her to wake up quickly. We needed to get out of there.

"Come on, Mikoto-chan, we really need to go..." I muttered, waiting for her to get her bearings.

We weren't so lucky though.

There was a crash behind us, and I turned my head to see the masked woman blast her way out of the rubble of the store she had crashed through. Her chest piece was nowhere to be seen, revealing a badly torn, black high necked crop top which revealed her shoulders. Her sword was in her hand, and she was glowering at me thunderously.

I turned to Index, who was staring at me in mute fascination. "Look after her for a sec" I said, gently laying Misaka down on the ground, and getting up to face her.

"I don't know how you dissolved _Karnakavacham_ like that, but you are going to _pay_ for it" she growled as I quickly cast another mana shield on my arm, readying myself, and hoping that I would be able to gain some more time.

This time, she didn't wait for me to come at her, charging at me, sword held low, intending to cut me from bottom to top.

I dodged the blow, starting to charge up my fist with mana for a strike at the earliest opportunity. The longer it charged, the greater the damage, after all.

The woman changed directions the moment she saw me move to dodge, forcing me to redirect the blow with the invisible shield, shaving off about half of its health. The woman very clearly outclassed me in battle, and I was just hoping for a chance to somehow hit her sword (which I assumed was magical) and dissolve it.

A few desperate exchanges on my part later, as she was moving to hit me, she suddenly stumbled.

"TOUMA, MOVE!" Misaka screamed.

Without thinking about it, I jumped away as far as I could, increasing the distance between the two of us.

"What on earth..." The woman said, before an explosion of blue electric arcs burst from the ground around her, electrocuting her. A few seconds later, she fell to the ground, smoking.

I turned to see Misaka kneeling on the ground, her right palm against it, a few sparks, escaping from her bangs. Her left arm was cradled against her chest, and her eyes were closed, gritting her teeth against the pain. She slowly rose up, and nearly collapsed onto Index.

"Misaka-san!" I said, running up to her, allowing the charged mana to dissipate, and slung her good arm across my shoulder, holding her up. There was still a small current running through her, causing a few sparks to jump between us.

Controlling the urge to jump at the sting, knowing that it would jostle her, I said, "We need to get you to a hospital."

Misaka's eyes flew open at that. "No! Definitely not!" she vehemently denied.

"There is a _bone_ poking out of your arm, Misaka-san" I said, confused and frustrated.

"I am a level five esper! If I end up in a hospital with an injury as severe as this, there will be questions. People will talk!" she said in a panicked tone.

"Does that really matter so much? You have a compound fracture, you can't just walk it off!" I exclaimed.

"Ummm...I can heal her, you know." a Index piped up in her childish voice, interrupting the brewing argument.

We both turned to look at her.

"How will you heal me?" Misaka asked in a disbelieving tone.

"With magic of course!" She said.

I facepalmed at that. This was going to be a long, long night.

* * *

 **Hello People! I am back with a new chapter!**

 **Guest: Sorry about the whole male/female thing with Aries. Thanks for pointing that out. Also, _Karnakavacham_ is another word whose meaning you won't know yet. Rest assured, it has some importance to the story**

 **Reviews on this chapter please! I know that I have introduced a couple of OCs, but we will still be following cannon, at least partially. there will be butterfly effects of Touma being more aware, but that is unavoidable. Hope you enjoyed!**


	13. Arc 2: Science meets Magic

**Beta Creds to Jedikage96**

* * *

 _[Quest_ _ **Clearing the Field (Part III)**_ _has been completed!]_

 _[You gained 12000 EXP]_

The three of us walked along the street, still mercifully clear of people.

We made an odd trio. One of us looked to have escaped a fire, the remaining two a street brawl.

 _I_ was nursing a migraine that was getting worse with every second.

The reason for my migraine?

"God and his miracles do not, _cannot_ , exist!"

"Says the one who is able to throw lightning bolts at will!"

"That is completely different!"

"Will the two of you _shut up!_ " I interjected, halting their argument, which had been going around in circles for the past five minutes now.

Both of them glared at me.

Sighing, I tried to change the subject. "Index, how large is this people clearing field?" I asked. We had been walking for about ten minutes now, and we still weren't out of it. The map, however, didn't show the field's limits.

"At least another kilometer or so? The male mage invested quite a bit of energy into it, from what I sensed when the field was being cast.

I nodded at Index. "Good, we can make it to my dorm without running into anyone then..." I said.

"Kami-yan?!" A voice exclaimed.

I looked up for my gaze to fall upon Tsuchimikado Motoharu. His eyes were narrowed in suspicion, and he seemed to be ready to lash out at the slightest provocation.

On the spot, I decided that naive ignorance was the play I was going to go for. "Tsuchimikado-san! Thank God! You are the first person we have come across for a while now!" I said in a bright voice.

Both Index and Misaka stared at the change in my tone and demeanor.

I mentally facepalmed. _"Play along, you idiots!"_ I thought.

Fortunately, both of them didn't say anything, though I doubted that it was because they knew what I was doing.

"What happened to you?" Motoharu asked, slowly relaxing. "Got into another fight protecting the ladies?" He asked, motioning to Misaka, who was on my left, and Index, who was hiding behind me.

"Something like that." I said, scratching the back of my head.

"So you are getting into Lolis now, Kami-Yan?" Tsuchimikado said, grinning, motioning at Misaka.

 _"Oh oh..."_ I thought as I smelt ozone and heard a few sparks pop beside me.

"Misaka-san, calm down, he is just teasing me!" I said, a small amount of desperation lacing my tone. _"Please don't shock him"_ I prayed mentally.

By this time, Index had relaxed enough for her to stop hiding behind me. Motoharu froze upon seeing her, jaw dropping in shock.

"I-I-I-Index?" He stuttered out, voice going up a few octaves. I controlled the mad urge to burst into giggles at that.

"You know her?" I asked.

Motoharu ignored me, and asked Index, "How did you end up here? How did the Walking Church get damaged? Does the Church know that you are here?" he demanded.

"Just who are you that you think I will answer your questions?" Index asked indignantly.

"I am affiliated with the Necessarius." Motoharu said. "As a member of our church, it is my duty to protect you." He said.

Index scowled at that. "The Necessarius are one of the factions that have been hunting me. It is always this pair of mages, One who wields flames, and another who wields a katana..."

Motoharu looked stumped at that. "Just what have Stiyl and Kaori been doing?" He asked, seemingly bewildered. "They were assigned to protect you from other factions seeking to use you for their own gain! How did you land up in Japan of all places!?"

Index scowl deepened. "I don't know how exactly I ended up here, but I would have been captured if not for these two." she said, nodding at me and Misaka. "If you were serious about helping me, you can provide us with a place where we can perform some magic to heal short-hair over here." She said.

Motoharu's gaze fell upon Mikoto, noting her paleness, and the arm cradled to her chest. "What happened? " He asked.

"There was a masked woman. She punched Misaka-san hard enough to give her a compound fracture on her forearm..." I said. "Speaking of which, Motoharu, you are a magician?!" I added.

Motoharu looked at me in evaluating manner. "I always have been. Do you know what that even means?" he asked.

I shrugged. "Not really. Index and Misaka-san here have been arguing about it for a while now... " I said.

At this point, Misaka stumbled, almost falling to the ground. I managed to catch her before she actually fell, causing her yelp and nearly pass out from the pain as her arm was jostled.

"Can we talk about this later? If you know any place where we can perform this healing spell that Index claims she can perform, now would be a good time to say so." I said, hoping to shelve the discussion for later. I did _not_ need Motoharu knowing about my abilities.

He nodded, looking uncharacteristically serious. "Sure. My house will do." He said. "Follow me."

* * *

A few minutes later, all of us were situated in Motoharu's surprisingly neat room. Which just happened to be next to mine.

I was mildly surprised by that, but dismissed it with a mental shrug.

Motoharu brought out, of all things, a miniature maid outfit for Index to change into from her damaged Walking Church.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Do I want to know why you have a miniature maid's outfit with you?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes at me. "It's my sister's you idiot."

A few minutes later, we were all seated at the small table in his room, Index in her new maid outfit.

There was a moment of silence where Index looked around the room. She then looked at Misaka and said, "I need your blood."

"What?" she asked, bewildered.

"I need a bit of your blood, freely given, so that I can draw the runes required." Index reiterated.

Misaka opened her mouth to argue, but I cut her off

"Just do as she says" I said.

Mikoto gave me a betrayed look, but I just glared back.

She huffed, and then turned to Index. "Do you have a syringe or something?" she asked.

"Syringe? Why would I need that, You are already bleeding." Index replied.

"I am not going to allow you to go poking around in my wounds. Do you know how unhygienic that is?!" Mikoto snapped.

"Misaka-san, just do as she says" I said.

She opened her mouth to argue again, but I moved forward and clapped a hand to her mouth.

"Just do as she says, and think later. This is the only option we have if you want to avoid a hospital" I said, looking into her eyes.

She glared at me, then sagged. She then gave a short nod towards Index.

Sighing, I let my hand fall.

A few minutes later, Index finished drawing the rune on the table, and Index arranged a few knick-knacks on top of it.

"What is that supposed to be?" Mikoto asked, peering curiously at the seal and the stuff on top of it.

"It's a miniature representation of this room." Motoharu said. He then turned to Index. "I am assuming you will need me for the next part?" he said.

Index nodded. "If you would."

The next few minutes were quite the bizarre experience for me.

We watched as Index and Motoharu summoned a being above us. It lingered for a few seconds, and then dissipated into motes of light.

At that moment, I watched as the Mikoto's arm silently twisted itself back into place, wounds on the surface disappearing.

At the same time, I got a notification.

 _[Foreign Magic Detected!]_

 _[Due to the passive effect_ _ **Imagine Breaker,**_ _Effects of all Foreign Magics will be dissipated]_

At the same time, there was the sound of breaking glass, just as the spell ended, causing Motoharu to twist sharply to stare at me.

"What was that?" he asked with a narrow eyed gaze.

"My, ah, ability? Remember, I dissipate esper powers?" I said, gambling on the assumption that Touma would have talked to his friends about his power.

"Huh. It seems it dissolves all powers then..." Motoharu muttered.

In the meanwhile, Mikoto was staring at her hand, disbelief written all over her face. She poked at her hand a few times.

"That...was amazing!" she exclaimed in wonderment. "Just what was that?"

"Magic" Index said in a smug voice.

Mikoto gave her an incredulous look, and then asked, "How does it work?"

"I am afraid that we can't tell you" Motoharu said, cutting across Index.

Mikoto frowned. "Whyever not?"

"Espers are incapable of using magic. It harms their bodies to do so. They are not capable of channeling mana. It's a result of the way they are trained. Also, normal espers are not supposed to be aware of magic. That both of you are is not a good thing." Motoharu said, frowning. It was rather odd, seeing him frown so seriously.

Mikoto frowned at Motoharu. "Why shouldn't we know about magic?"

Motoharu sighed. "It's a political quagmire which I cannot even begin to explain. It is best that you are kept in the dark. Forget that this ever happened, and continue as you did before."

"Like hell that is going to happen." Mikoto spat.

Motoharu sighed. "If you start exploring about magic overtly, you will spark a war. Heed my words, and drop it"

Mikoto scowled, and opened her mouth to retort, but I cut her off.

"That's all well and good, but what are we going to do with Index here? I doubt she is out of danger, she seems to be in the possession of some sort of rare ability, going by what she said earlier, and what those two were going on about." I said.

"She will be with me" Motoharu said simply. "I am the one best equipped to protect her after all."

"No." Index cut in, causing all three of us to stare at her.

"Uhhhh... what?" Motoharu asked, bewildered.

Index motioned towards Mikoto. "I will be staying with her" she said.

"Ehh? What? Huh?" Mikoto sputtered while both me and Motoharu gaped at her.

"Once again, what?" Motoharu asked.

"I don't trust you. You said that you were part of the Anglican Church, but the priests of the very same church have been chasing me for almost a year now." Index said. "On top of that, you are a mage, so the grimoires are valuable to you."

Then pointing to Mikoto, she said, "this one, along with the boy, jumped in to save me without knowing what I am. Also, the grimoires are useless to them, and they have no reason to betray me, unlike you."

"Wait, wait, wait! I can't take you in! I have a roommate! I don't live in a separate dorm like this one, and I have a warden. It's not possible." Mikoto broke in, recovering from her shock.

Index's face fell, then she turned to me. "Where do you live?" she asked.

"Right next door. The next apartment is mine" I said.

"Oh. That's perfect then, isn't it?" Index said.

"What is?" Motoharu asked.

"I will be staying with Touma. He is close enough that you can keep an eye on me, and he will protect me" she said.

Motoharu stared at Index evaluatingly.

"Don't I get a say in this?" I asked, just for the sake of asking, though I had no real objection to the plan.

"No" all three of them replied simultaneously for various reasons.

The stand-off between Index and Motoharu continued, and he then nodded.

"Alright. You stay with Kami-yan here." He said.

He then turned to me. "Kamijou, lucky bastard, you get to stay with an honest-to-gods teenage girl" he said with a grin.

"From what angle does she look like a teenager? She is a girl! Don't make a pedophile out of me!" I said heatedly.

"Touma..." a dark voice said from my side.

I looked to see a fuming Index glaring at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I am fourteen" she growled. "I am very much a teenager"

"Ah...sorry?" I said, hoping that her biting fetish wasn't a real thing.

She sighed.

"Alright. If that is done, Now what?" I asked.

Motoharu sighed. "Honestly, I have no idea. Do you know who were the people who attacked Index?"

"I don't know who they were, but they weren't using Christian magic" Index said before I could say anything.

"Non-Christian magic? Now that's a rare thing to see..." Motoharu muttered. "Anyway, for now, I will investigate about those mages. Both of you concentrate on protecting Index." he said, addressing the two of us.

"Why don't we help with the investigation?" Mikoto asked

"No. I am not involving you more than I have to in this. I will keep you posted, but don't involve yourself in my investigation, and don't go about investigating on your own" he said glaring at Mikoto. "Besides, Index really does have to be protected, and I doubt Touma can do that on his own. I won't be available to help most of the time if I have to investigate the mages who attacked Index."

Mikoto just glared at Motoharu.

"If that is all, then let's get going" Index said, effectively ending the discussion.

* * *

Index was the first one out of the door, with me and Mikoto trailing behind. When the door behind us closed, I started to make my way to my apartment, when Mikoto tugged on my sleeve.

"What is it?" I asked.

She opened her mouth to say something, and then glared at Index.

She huffed. "Where is your apartment?" she asked me.

"It's the next one" I said, pointing at the door to the left of Motoharu's apartment.

She nodded, and walked away, leaving the two of us relatively alone.

"Are you still in party?" I whispered to her.

She nodded. "So you were purposely acting oblivious?" she asked hopefully.

"Partially. " I replied. "I really don't know anything about magic, but if I said anything, I would have to reveal the Gamer" I said.

She nodded. "Keep me posted" she said, and left.

I sighed, and went to open the door for Index, who was tapping her foot impatiently.

The moment the door closed behind us, Index turned to face me.

"Now, spill." she said.

"Wait what?" I asked, confused.

"I know you were lying to Motoharu there." she said, raising a dozen alarms in my head.

"What?" I asked, trying to buy time for an explanation.

"You knew what a people clearing field was. I played along because I trust Motoharu less then you, so spill" she said

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Trust**_ _]_

 _[Because of your foolishness, you revealed something to Index which made her doubt your obliviousness about magic. Correct this mistake, and gain her trust in the process]_

 _[Rewards: 2000 EXP, Increased closeness to Index. Failure: decreased closeness to Index, Failure to protect Index]_

I cursed internally while thinking furiously as to how I wanted to play this.

I knew that I couldn't reveal my vague knowledge about magic from my previous life, but the only way I could do that and gain her trust was to reveal the Gamer to her.

 _"Actually...why not? That's not a bad idea..."_ I thought as I looked over the quest details, which still hadn't closed. Index narrowed her eyes at me when she noticed my gaze move away from her.

"Would you believe me if I said that it was part of my power?" I asked, making my decision.

"And what power would that be?" she asked, a single silver eyebrow raised.

"Create party: ILP. Invite: Index Librorum Prohibitorum" I said

Index froze, and stared at what I assumed was the acceptance dialogue in front of her.

"What is this?" she asked.

I sighed. "It's my power. Go on, accept" I said.

Index eyes widened as she looked at the multitude of information in front of her. She then looked at me.

"How does this explain anything?" she asked

I gaped at her.

"Haven't you ever played a computer game?" I asked, dreading the answer.

"Computer?" she asked right back, a confused look on her face

I smacked a hand against my face.

 _"It's going to be a long night_ " I thought ruefully as I sat down to explain the concept of a open-world RPG to Index.

* * *

 **AN: Welp. Hope you enjoyed that. Tell me what you guys think. Reviews are Gold!**


	14. Arc 2: Date Night

**Beta Cookies to the great JediKage96! Heil Kage!**

* * *

 _[Alarm: 7:00 am_

 _Dismiss/Snooze]_

I groaned and opened my eyes at the sound of the alarm, whose music I was yet to change.

Trying to explain video games to Index...was tiresome to say the least.

It didn't help that she kept getting distracted by her hunger. By the time we slept, she had eaten three times.

Three times. In eight hours.

Not tiny meals or snacks either. She had already cleared out about a fourth of the ingredients in my tiny fridge, stuff that was meant to last me a week.

Thankfully, by the time we were done, she had a decent handle on what exactly my powers were, though the nuances of it still escaped her.

Upon dismissing, the alarm, I got a new set of notifications.

 _[You have one_ _ **Skill Evolution**_ _Available!]_

 _[Synchronization is now at 70%!]_

 _[Quest_ _ **The Art of Love and War: The Sexy Librarian**_ _is about to expire!]_

 _[The System has Updated! Do you wish to see the_ _ **Change Log**_ _?]_

Blinking, I clicked first on the new skill evolution.

 _[The skill_ _ **Danger Perception**_ _along with_ _ **Perception**_ _is available for evolution. Would you like to upgrade this skill?]_

I clicked on yes.

 _[_ _ **Warning:**_ _Evolving these skills will combine them and reset their experience gain to zero. Do you still wish to continue]_

I looked at the message, and shrugged. Not as though their level was very high, and evolved skills were generally better.

 _[The skills_ _ **Danger Perception**_ _and_ _ **Perception**_ _have evolved into the skill_ _ **Preternatural Awareness**_ _]_

 _[_ _ **Preternatural Awareness**_ _(Lv 1)(Passive)_ _ **:**_ _A skill that allows you to perceive the world in much greater detail than your five given senses, and catches the smallest patterns in the world around you, and perceive any threats to you and those around you._

 _Effects: Adds points of Interest to the minimap, Increases stealth detection by 100%, Increases hidden object detection by 100%, increases combat awareness_ _by 100%, increases terrain navigation by 100%,Allows you to perceive Malicious Intent_

 _Range: (15*Skill Level)m]_

I frowned at that. While it looked just a normal combination of the two older skills, it's range was now tied to its level. That gave me an insane amount of potential growth, though it's current range was a measly fifteen meters

Dismissing the new skill for the moment, I went to the change log

 _[_ _ **The Gamer: V1.03**_ _]_

 _[1. Journal Now Visible. You can view Journal entries and options through the Journal option of the main menu._

 _2\. New Relationship Tracker added to track your closeness to your various acquaintances! Relationship point gains now visible! View the current status of your relationships through the Relationship Tracker in the Journal section on the menu._

 _3\. Commands need not be vocalized for their activation. All Commands are now thought activated._

 _4\. Party Chat now Active! Party chat can be accessed through the Party Window]_

" _That looks interesting_ " I thought as I brought up the Journal.

The Journal had various subdivisions, including the Relationship Tracker. There were separate sections to the Journal like People, Places, General and so on and so forth in it.

The Tracker was what caught my eye. It arranged all of my known acquaintances in order of their closeness to me.

 _[_ _ **Relationship Tracker**_ _]_

 _[1._ _ **Misaka Mikoto**_

 _Relationship Level: 12_

 _Progress to Next Level: 22/200_

 _Relationship Status: Friend_

 _Current Status with respect to You: Mild Respect, Mild Admiration, Mild Infatuation_

 _2._ _ **Aogami Pierce**_

 _Relationship Level: 8_

 _Progress to Next Level: 2/80_

 _Relationship Status: Friend_

 _Current Status with respect to You: Camaraderie, Kinship_

 _3._ _ **Tsuchimikado Motoharu**_

 _Relationship Level: 6_

 _Progress to Next Level: 1/40_

 _Relationship Status: Friend_

 _Current Status with Respect to You: Worried, Mildly Suspicious, Mild Annoyance_

 _4._ _ **Index Librorum Prohibitorum**_

 _Relationship Level: 5_

 _Progress to next Level: 12/35_

 _Relationship Status: Close Acquaintance/ Roommate (Special)_

 _Status with respect to you: Mildly Suspicious, Cautious_

 _4._ _ **Tsukuyomi Komoe**_

 _Relationship Level: 4_

 _Progress to next Level: 5/30_

 _Relationship Status: Mentor_

 _Current Status with Respect to You: Mild Worry_

 _5._ _ **Yomikawa Aiho**_

 _Relationship Level: 4_

 _Progress to Next Level: 1/30_

 _Relationship Status: Mentor_

 _Current Status With Respect to You: Mild Worry_

 _6._ _ **Fukiyose Seiri**_

 _Relationship Level: 2_

 _Progress to Next Level: 10/20_

 _Relationship Status: Acquaintance_

 _Current Status with Respect to you: Mild Worry, Mild Annoyance_

 _7._ _ **Frenda Seivulun**_

 _Relationship Level: 2_

 _Progress to next Level: 0/20_

 _Relationship Status: Acquaintance_

 _Current Status with Respect to you: None_

 _8._ _ **Izuku Sakura**_

 _Relationship Level: 2_

 _Progress to Next Level: 1/20_

 _Relationship Status: Acquaintance_

 _Current Status With Respect to You: Mild Interest_

 _9._ _ **Ragni (?)**_

 _Relationship Level: 1_

 _Progress to Next Level: 4/5_

 _Relationship Status: Distant Acquaintance_

 _Current Status With Respect to you: Worry_

 _10._ _ **Aries Zettour**_

 _Relationship Level: (-8)_

 _Progress to Next Level: (-9)/(-80)_

 _Relationship Status: Antagonistic_

 _Current Status with Respect to you: Anger_

 _11._ _ **Panty Stealer (?)**_

 _Relationship Level: (-20)_

 _Progress to Next Level: 0/(-400)_

 _Relationship Status: Enemies_

 _Current Status with Respect to you: Extreme Anger ]_

 _"Huh...so it now assigns values for the level of closeness with everyone I have had any sort of meaningful conversation with hmm..?"_ I thought as I looked through the list. I paused at Ragni's status. _"Why is she worried about me if she is just a distant acquaintance?"_ I thought with a frown.

Sighing, I brought up the notification I was least looking forward to. I looked through it and sighed again.

 _"God dammit, it is enticing enough that I don't want to just dismiss it, but embarrassing enough that I just don't want to do it. Ugh."_ I grumbled to myself.

After thinking it over for a few minutes, I shrugged to myself, and sent her a text inviting her over for coffee later that evening. "Let's see where this goes..." I muttered to myself after dismissing all the windows.

"Touma, I am hungry" Index mumbled sleepily from the bed.

I scowled at her. Who on earth ate that much while so tiny?!

Pushing her out of my mind, I took down the old Level Two ward around my home, and set up a new ward, now sitting at level five after dumping my mana into the ward at every chance.

After that, I went about making my meal for the day, and setting up for Index as well. About an hour later, I left the house with strict instructions for her not to leave, and instructions as to where to find the food.

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty standard. Motoharu acted as though nothing had happened yesterday between us, and taking my cues from him, I did the same.

Our scuffle made the news though. According to what was up, they were still searching for the culprits, which meat that the duo had escaped after we left them at the scene to heal Mikoto.

Pity that.

Once school let out, and I separated from Pierce, I opened the Party Chat to see what I could do.

The window popped up, along with a virtual keyboard.

Curious, I tapped the tried to rotate the keyboard out of the normal plane, and to my surprise, it worked.

Grinning to myself, I found a bench, and sitting cross-legged on it, I set the keyboard on the bench surface, and started typing

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Misaka-san, where are you?_

It took a few minutes for Mikoto's reply to come, during which I drummed my fingers impatiently.

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _What on Earth? Party Chat is an option?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Looks Like it..._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Surprised me. I almost fried Kuroko by accident._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Lol_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Not Funny. If I shock her too much, she will become immune to it. As it is, she is showing a disturbing amount of resilience_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Do I want to know?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _..._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _No. Forget that._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _What's up?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _I need to ask a favor of you._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _What?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Can you watch Index for a bit?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _What? Why? You have plans?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Yes. I need you to watch Index while I am gone. And feed her._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Why are you referring to her like you would a baby? She is the same age as me_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _*sighs* You will know once you talk with her for a few minutes_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _That's ominous..._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _So, can you do it? Or else I have to ask Motoharu, and I really don't want to..._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _No, no, no, it's alright, not like I have any other plans. I was going to browse the magazines at the convenience store._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _..._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _You are one of those huh..._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _What is that supposed to mean?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _I never expected that you would be the type to read magazines without buying them LOL_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Magazines are overpriced!_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Chill. Is it okay if you come over here? I don't want to let Index out of the house..._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Whyever not?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _*sigh* She somehow got into the city without checking in. She doesn't have a permit._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _EHHHH?!_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Yup_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _How on Earth did that happen?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _No clue. She doesn't do well with technology. She didn't know what a TV was._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _You are kidding._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _No I am not_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Besides which, Academy City is under Satellite Surveillance 24/7. How was she not identified?!_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _*shrugs*_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _That's why I don't want to push our luck._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Alright._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Oh, I wanted to ask, why is your interface in English?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _What?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Not like I have a problem, but it is surprising. I didn't expect you to know English. Even if you did, I thought you would have preferred Japanese._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _*shrugs* The Game didn't give me an option._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Huh._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Interesting._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Alright, I gotta move. I will meet you at around 7:30? I should be done by then._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Where are you going?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _A date._

 _[You closeness with Misaka Mikoto has decreased by 5!]_

I blinked at the notification. _"What did I do?_ " I thought.

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _A date? With whom? Where? How?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma_** _: Yes a date. A librarian. She said she would text me. Random circumstances._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _..._

 ** _Kamijou Touma_** _: What?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Nothing._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _I will take care of Index._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Enjoy your date._

I raised my eyebrows at the terseness of the last few texts.

 _"Mild infatuation hmm?"_ I thought with a sigh.

Ugh. I was so not going to deal with this now. Besides, I had a date to prepare for.

* * *

Half an hour later found me sitting opposite the cute-ish librarian I had met the day I woke up in a small, open air cafe.

As I sat down, I got a notification.

 _[Upon entering a romantic situation for the first time, you have unlocked_ _ **Dating Mode!**_ _]_

I stared at the notification for a second in disbelief, before being distracted by the waiter asking for our order. It had dismissed itself before I could pay it anymore attention. However, one of its effects were quite apparent.

Observe had leveled up enough that by this point that it gave the HP and level of anyone I focused on without having to vocalize or think the order. However, below Sakura's HP, a new bar labeled MOOD had popped up.

Internally smashing my head against a wall, I proceeded to ignore the empty bar, and concentrate on getting through the date without embarrassing myself too much,

There was a slightly awkward silence in the air for a moment after we gave our respective order, before she broke it.

"So, what did you think?" she asked.

"Of the book?" I clarified, to which she nodded.

"Hmmm..." I hummed thoughtfully.

The book...had little to do with ninjas or love for that matter. It was set in a place similar to Academy City and described the encounters between a girl who worked for the criminal element of the city and a member of the city law enforcement. As advertised, lemons stitched with plot.

The book though, was very apparently written by someone who had lived in the city, based on the little snippets that I found hadn't made sense from my perspective. Made me wonder if it was completely fiction based on the situations described.

"I am curious, has anyone actually met the author? It's apparent that they live in the city, based on how they described it..." I said.

Sakura nodded very enthusiastically. "There are several discussion boards dedicated to that actually. There are no known pictures of the author of the series, but the fandom is rife with discussions about whether the underworld as described by the author actually exists." she said, her nerves calming as we proceeded onto a familiar topic.

"Series?" I asked, eyebrows raised.

She nodded. "It's quite the popular series. It's been going around for a couple of years now, with three books having been published."

My eyebrows went up at that. "Three books of similar size and...content?" I asked.

Sakura nodded again, smiling. "She puts out books incredibly fast."

"She?" I asked.

"I assume it that way" she said with a shrug. "If it were a male author, I feel that it would be more about the act and less about what was felt during the act. It feels like a females perspective."

I grinned. "Oh ho? Speaking from experience?" I asked.

Sakura blushed at that. "Ah..Ahem! Not really. Just feels that way" she said.

"That's very sexist of you" I said, wagging a finger. "Guys have feelings too".

She rolled her eyes at me. "I am not saying they don't, but women are more in touch with their feelings than guys."

From there, the discussion devolved into a discussion about male and female attitudes towards sex, and then towards books we had both read. She was quite impressed with number of books of foreign authors (Read: English Authors) that I knew of and had read, and was disappointed that I hadn't read so many Japanese classics.

An hour or so later found both of us in quite the pleasant mood.

"This was nice" Sakura sighed. "Not many people read as much as I do.."

I gave her a look. "You can't find people who read... in Academy City?" I asked dubiously.

She gave a short laugh at that. "Surprisingly, there aren't that many who read for recreation. You have two ends of the spectrum, the super serious, who study all the time, and the happy-go-lucky types. Neither read for recreation, sad as it is." she said.

She glanced at her watch, and sighed.

"I have to go. My shift at the Library will start soon" she said.

"Do you want me to walk you there?" I asked.

She waved me off. "It's fine, I have a few other errands to run as well before I get there, and I don't want to take up anymore of your time." she said.

"Oh, time spent with you is not a waste in my opinion." I said without thinking.

She smiled at that. "That's very sweet of you, but I do have to go. Tell you what, Come over to the library after you finish the rest of the book, and I will introduce you properly to true Japanese culture" she said with a smile.

"Deal" I said as I got up.

After she left, I got the expected notification.

 _[Quest_ _ **Kami the Harem God: The Path of the Sexy Librarian (Part I)**_ _is complete!]_

 _[You have gained 1000 EXP!]_

 _[Your closeness with_ _ **Inuzuka Sakura**_ _has increased by 50]_

 _[Your Relationship Level with_ _ **Inuzuka Sakura**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[Your Relationship Level with_ _ **Inuzuka Sakura**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Inuzuka Sakura**_ _is now a Friend!]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Kami the Harem God: Path of the Sexy Librarian (Part II)**_ _]_

 _[You have piqued the interest of Inuzuka Sakura by showing yourself to be an avid reader, and a fellow connoisseur of literature, both erotic and not. Continue to maintain her interest in you by reading more books of Japanese origin, and discussing the same with her_

 _Rewards: To be decided, Possible Friend with Benefits. Failure: To be decided]_

 _"That...actually is not too bad. Not much EXP, but guarantees a lot of books to read. And an excuse to go to the library. Not bad for a day's work"_ I thought as I dismissed the notifications and walked home.

* * *

I walked into my room at around seven, about half an hour earlier than expected.

Mikoto was sitting at my desk, reading...

"You do know that that book is meant for an adults" I said, very amused.

She jumped, and then made a poor attempt at hiding the copy of Ninjas of Love that she had been perusing.

I smirked at stammered excuses, noting that Index was on the bed, asleep.

"How did you get her to sleep?" I asked confused.

"I didn't do anything, she fell asleep on her own" Mikoto replied with a shrug, her face still a bright red, though the blush was slowly receding.

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "So, enjoyed yourself?" I asked.

She glared at me, face still red.

I chuckled at that. "Want me to walk you to the bus stop?" I asked.

"Yeah...sure" she muttered.

Still chuckling, We both walked out with me locking the door behind me.

* * *

"Say, Misaka-san, I have another favour to ask of you" I said as we walked to the bus stand round the corner.

"What favor?" she asked, peering at me.

"I need to train." I said

"Yes? And?" she asked, her gaze sharpening.

"Would you mind sparring with me? Occasionally at-"

"YES!" She almost shouted, a grin on her face.

 _[Your closeness with_ _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _has increased by 20!]_

I gave her a bemused look. "That eager for a fight?" I asked

She nodded. "People are too scared of my reputation. Nobody challenges me anymore, and I find that I have plateaued" she bemoaned. "Also, over the past year or so, inter-esper fights are heavily discouraged because of the property damage a careless esper can cause."

"Case in point..." I muttered.

"What was that?" Mikoto asked in a dangerous tone, a couple of sparks playing around her bangs.

"Nothing, Nothing" I said hurriedly. I didn't need to take another accidental spark.

"Anyway, I have a lot of skills that I need to grind, and fighting is the best way to do that" I said to her.

 _"I also need to find a weapon..."_ I thought to myself. I was not confident enough to create another Instant Dungeon without a weapon.

Problem was, this was Japan. Finding a weapon was quite the task, given the regulations around it.

Which meant I had to visit the Ragni again. She was the only fixed contact I had to the Academy City underworld, though I doubted that she peddled weapons, someone there could point me in the right direction at least.

 _"I can also find out why she is worried about me..."_ I thought with a frown to myself

* * *

 **AN: Heh. Suddenly, a lot of Inspiration. Here's a new chapter folks. Hope you like what I have introduced.**

 **Guest: Nice to see you still here mate *waves***

 **Motoharu does that on purpose. He is being serious see.**


	15. Arc 2: John's Pen

**Beta brownies to JediKage96**

* * *

I sighed and put down the lid of the screen of the borrowed laptop I was using and lay back down on the bed.

The last week had been very unproductive.

After my date with Sakura, I went about trying to research about getting myself armed, and found myself at a unique roadblock

Academy City had no privacy.

From what I had read up, all the occupants of Academy City waived a large portion of their privacy rights when they entered the city. It was a known fact that Academy City monitored every single aspect of its resident's life. One aspect of that was the internet access protocols.

There were no private networks in the city- in fact, there were no outside networks _at all_. Academy City had its own telecommunications service, and hadn't allowed any other telecommunication company to make a foothold within the city. All cell phone and internet services were distributed by the same company, which was very unimaginatively named, Academy City Telecommunications, or the ACT.

The ACT, instead of providing separate, wired connections to every resident in the city who needed one, had a different system.

The entire city was covered by WiFi system which anyone could access with a registered username and password, both of which were linked to the user's ID card. Visitors were given temporary access, again linked to their visitor's ID.

The level of access and privacy within the network was decided by your access level.

As a student, I had an E-rank account, which basically meant I had absolutely no privacy, and that every little thing that I did was logged. I didn't fancy having my account flagged by the Anti-Skill because I started researching weaponry.

However, there was a sort-of silver lining to it.

There were five ranks, with students and visitors having the lowest ranked access. After that came the Judgement and teachers, both of whom had D-rank accounts, giving them access to all information about E-rank accounts.

Anti-Skill officers and low to mid level researchers got C-rank accounts, which gave them access to ranks below it as well as other C-ranked accounts.

After that there was a B-rank...which was inaccessible to the Anti-Skill, and was controlled completely by the upper level research and administration staff of Academy City.

It was quite the shock for me when I read that.

In my mind, it made no sense for law enforcement to have access to smaller amounts of information and privacy than private executives. However, it worked to my advantage. I doubted that anyone with B-level or higher access would be flagged for researching...questionable material. Which meant that I had to get access to an account with B-rank access privileges.

The whole of the past week had been spent in using my fledgling skills at low-level hacking to try and create a private connection, all of which had failed spectacularly. My Physical Hacking skill would only work for information stored on the PC I was working with, which meant I had to get physical access to system containing the account records, something which I deemed impossible for me to accomplish at the moment. I even got a cheeky, automated message from the Anti-Skill for my blundering attempts at creating a VPN.

The lack of progress over the past week was making me _extremely_ antsy. I needed to start training, and not having access to a weapon was a crippling disability. I could, of course, make do with my mana manipulation skills, but in my mind, it was a bad idea to be in a situation with absolutely no backup if I ran out of mana.

Mikoto had been a little helpful in giving me potential places I could train at the very least. She had given me a map of places which she had cleared of surveillance equipment, like the little alleyway where we had had our duel. It allowed me to train my active skills, albeit at a mind-numbingly slow rate.

Another problem was that I was Index's minder...which gave me little to no time to myself. While Index knew of the Gamer (and that she was not to talk about it to anyone...not that she truly had anyone to talk to), she had the mental maturity of a seven year old child. She was incredibly smart, and very good at analyzing stuff, but was a bloody pain in the ass. I had not been able to get away to visit the Ragni's place to drop off my contraband books, nor to enquire (discreetly) about trying to get a fake ID made for Index.

Sighing, I opened the Party Chat window.

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Misaka-san, do you know how to obtain a B-rank password?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _?_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _: Why on Earth would you need one?!_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Because I want some privacy?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Wow. No. Completely impossible. I don't know anybody with a B-rank password, and I know a LOT of people. There are probably 500 people with B-rank access in the entire city._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _I know. That's why I want it._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Doesn't it bother you?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _What?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _That they can see everything about you._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _It does. But you get used to it. Besides, It's not like I have much to hide._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _That's not the point..._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Ugh..._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Say, are you free tomorrow?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _What for?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _A duel :)_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _YES! for that, definitely YES!_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _But I have other things to do as well..._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Actually._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Do you think you can leave Index with Tsuchimikado-san tomorrow?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _I...doubt it. Index still doesn't trust him at all. And he never got back to us about his investigation._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Ugh. Fine. Bring her along as well. I promised Kuroko that I would meet a few friends of hers who were eager to meet me, and that I would spend the day with her._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _I want to introduce you to her as well._

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Also, you will act as a...buffer for her more...eccentric moments._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Eccentric?_

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Also, How will I bring Index out? She doesn't have any Identification, remember?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _It's fine. Worst case scenario, I 'accidentally' short out their equipment. It happens all the time. Also, surveillance within the city is nowhere near as comprehensive as it is at the City borders. The system doesn't flag unknowns._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _And you know that how?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _Kuroko works in Judgement. I sat at one of the systems without telling her._

 ** _Kamijou Touma:_** _Aren't you naughty?_

 ** _Misaka Mikoto:_** _*Rolls eyes*_

Closing the chat window, I turned to Index, who was watching some _mahou shoujo_ anime on the TV I had.

"Say, Index, what do you think of having a day out tomorrow?" I asked.

She immediately turned to me, childlike excitement in her eyes. "Will we have Ice Cream?" she asked.

I smiled at her enthusiasm. Though the dissonance between her smartness and maturity was disconcerting, her smile was like a thousand-watt bulb.

So was her glare actually...in that it would burn your eyes out with its intensity...

* * *

The next afternoon found myself and Index walking into Joseph's Diner, Index dressed once again dressed in Motoharu's sister's spare clothes (thankfully, there was stuff other than the maid uniform.). We really needed to get her more clothes. Mikoto managed to get her underwear but not much else.

I found Mikoto cruelly stretching the cheeks of girl with the most elaborate Twintail Braid that I had ever seen

 **Shirai Kuroko**

 **Lv 70**

 **Teleporter (Lv 56)**

[HP: 780/780]

[MP: 4900/4900]

[STR: 12]

[DEX: 32]

[VIT: 60]

[INT: 180]

[WIS: 80]

[CHA: 19]

[LUK: 12]

 _[Shirai Kuroko is one of the most accomplished teleporters produced by the city, and one of the more competent members of the Judgement workforce. She has (in some people's opinion) an unhealthy obsession with 'The Railgun' Misaka Mikoto]_

I grinned in amusement, and then sighed "You are entirely too violent, Misaka-san, I despair of ever making a proper lady of you"

She turned to face me, and then said "Oh, shut up!" irately.

I sniggered while Index happily took a seat next to Kuroko, and me taking the seat next to Mikoto.

"Onee-sama, you really should be less violent in your interactions. You should act with more grace!" Kuroko was saying.

Mikoto pointed a single finger at Kuroko, sparks playing amongst her bangs. "You...are on very thin ice."

"Besides, you are pushing at a lost cause. Misaka-san is too far gone in her tomboy habits to ever become a lady of grace and culture" I added with a snort.

Kuroko narrowed her eyes at me. "And just who are you? And what right do you have to address my Onee-sama in such a familiar manner?" she demanded.

"Right! Introductions! Kamijou-kun, this is Shirai Kuroko, my friend, roommate and occasional stalker" Mikoto said before tensions could escalate. I cocked an eyebrow at Kuroko at Mikoto's description of her.

"My devotion for my Onee-sama has no bounds!" she declared unrepentantly.

"Kuroko, My friend, Kamijou Touma." she said, ignoring the byplay between Kuroko and me, "And Index, Touma's...cousin"

Kuroko looked at me, and then at Index. "They look nothing alike" she said.

I rolled my eyes. "Distant cousins" I added.

"Touma! I am hungry!" Index added at this point.

I rolled my eyes again. "You are always hungry. Besides, you ate barely an hour ago!" I exclaimed in exasperation. "You will be fed at five, and not before that." It had become a necessity to enforce strict mealtimes for Index, lest she literally eat up what little I had.

"Touma!" she whined.

I ignored her, and turned to Mikoto. "What is the plan then?" I asked.

"Saten-san and Uiharu-san should come along in a minute or so." Kuroko replied. "We planned to finish off lunch here, and then probably go to the mall..."

"Say, Shirai-san, you work for Judgement, yes?" I asked.

Kuroko straightened up, and puffed her chest out slightly in pride. "Yes I do."

I suppressed a snigger at her demeanor, and asked, "How does it work?"

"As in?" Kuroko asked, a slight frown of confusion on her face.

"As in, what is your jurisdiction? I mean, is it all the cases come first through you and then to the Anti-Skill or does the Anti-Skill hand out cases to Judgement?" I asked.

"Somewhere in between the two...sort of? The branch head of every Judgement branch has access to the same level as information about the city as a private in the Anti-Skill. If there is a disturbance, the alert goes to both the Judgment and the Anti-Skill, but the Judgment is usually first on the scene." she replied.

"So the Anti-Skill depends on the Judgment to report an escalation in the situation?" I asked, eyebrows raised. "Isn't that...a bit too much to put upon a kid?"

Kuroko bristled at that. "Not anyone can enroll into Judgement you know! It takes months of training and tests before they allow you in"

I frowned at that, but before we could continue, Uiharu and Saten walked in, and the discussion was forgotten in the flurry of greetings that followed.

* * *

I was frowning as the six of us walked down to the nearby mall that Kuroko had planned to take us to.

Mikoto poked me in the side, causing me to let out a startled yelp. The remaining four, who were walking slightly ahead of us, turned to see what happened, but I waved them off, glaring at the smirking Mikoto.

"What's got you all bothered?" Mikoto asked me.

I sighed. "Don't you find it weird that the primary law enforcement force consists of children?" I asked.

"Not really. Should it?" she asked, nonplussed.

I let out another sigh. "Never mind. Ugh this week has been extremely frustrating!" I said, running a hand through my hair.

"Why so?" Mikoto asked.

"I have not made any progress on any of my active quests because I have been taking care of Index. I haven't been able to grind any stats except for a point of INT for the same reason!" I griped.

Mikoto favored me with another amused look, and then said, "Well, that should be resolved at least partially today"

Well, that was one good thing going for me.

A few minutes of companionable silence later, I got a text from Motoharu.

"What is it?" Mikoto asked upon observing my frown.

"Motoharu wants to talk. I am assuming that he wants to talk about Index's situation." I said.

One good thing that happened over the past week was that both me and Mikoto got a better handle, relatively speaking, about the truce between science and magic from what little Index knew. While I knew quite a bit, I needed Mikoto to know more if she was going to be my primary companion, and I couldn't be the source of information when technically, I hadn't had any interaction with the magic side in this series of events. Already things were changing, and I didn't even know which actions of mine had triggered the changes. The emergence of those two mages were not a part of the original sequence, and I wasn't eager to push my luck.

I also needed an excuse to break the spell on Index. I couldn't act while I hadn't been told anything about Index's situation after all. Hopefully, that would be resolved today.

I told Motoharu that we would be there later in the evening, and decided to enjoy myself till that point of time.

* * *

A few hours later, me and Index found ourselves at Motoharu's home, waiting up on Mikoto, who had split up with the two of us after the mall. She sent me a text on the party chat later threatening bodily harm if we started the discussion without her.

Thus, the three of us were sitting in awkward silence, which wasn't helped by the frown on Motoharu's face. Seeing my normally cheerful friend so serious was rather….disconcerting.

A few uncomfortable minutes later, there was a knock on the door, breaking the silence, causing me to sigh in relief.

I really hate silences.

After Mikoto took a seat, Motoharu too a few seconds to gather his thoughts, and then started.

"I talked to the Archbishop of the church about Index's situation. It is…rather convoluted, so sit tight." He said, and waited for us to nod our confirmation.

"The Forbidden Library is a not just a series of books, they have a life of their own. The knowledge of the library will always make sure that at least one mind contains the information in it, ensuring it's spread. Destroying physical copies of the knowledge never works for long, and somehow the knowledge crops up in places where it causes a massive amount of mayhem. The last such instance of the knowledge of the Forbidden Library popping up led to the Great Fire of London in 1666."

"In the aftermath of the Fire, the then Archbishop of the Anglican Church devised a plan to prevent the knowledge of the Library from finding itself in the wrong hands. A female child was chosen to be the carrier of the Library's knowledge, and knowledge of the Library was written into her mind, and second personality called John's Pen was used to lock the knowledge into the girl's mind, and acted as a protector for the child when she was in danger. The child was renamed as Index Librorum Prohibtorum and admitted into a nunnery, and protected from outside influences. Since that time, every time an Index passed on, an orphaned girl child of under two years of age was chosen to be the new vessel of the Forbidden Library, and protected by the Anglican Church. Index here is the sixth generation."

"However, the problem with Index here, is that she has an eidetic memory." Motoharu said.

Both me and Mikoto frowned, and Mikoto asked, "How is that a problem?"

"The problem is that the Library, as well as John's Pen are allocated a limited amount of memory in the mind. Because Index has and Eidetic memory, the pathways get filled, and the results of it are unpredictable. The Archbishop didn't want to take the risk of Index going berserk, and instituted a mandatory memory wipe for Index every year, so as to prevent the overflow." Motoharu replied.

Mikoto scoffed at that. "You are telling me that the Library, which is a mere hundred and three thousand books, is enough to fill up enough space in a system that is capable of storing almost a century's worth of memories?"

Motoharu shook his head. "That's not it at all. John's Pen has a limited amount of space, and depends on the host brain's systems to maintain itself. Because Index's brain is not capable of forgetting, _neither is John's Pen_. Thus, a manual memory clearing is required. At the same time, it is impossible for us to selectively clear Index's memories, because for all purposes, John's Pen and Index are the same person. It was an unprecedented situation, and this is a stop-gap measure till we can actually remove the John's Pen personality from Index's mind." He said.

I frowned, and then asked, "How does that explain why Index was being attacked by two mages in Academy City? From what you have said, she is supposed to be in Britain, protected by the Church."

Motoharu scowled at that. "To prevent the other factions from learning about the situation with Index, she was sent with two young mages, who were supposed to protect her and perform the memory wipes till they were contacted by the church. For some reason, Index seems to be hostile to us. They are still incommunicado, and we have no idea what went wrong, and how Index found herself in Academy City. Trust me, this is the last place we want her to be." He said.

"So, what now?" I asked, frowning. Motoharu's explanation…..made sense. I couldn't remember the details of why Touma tried to take things in his own hands in the original timeline, and I didn't want to screw around here.

"For now, Index will remain with you, till we can contact the mages who were supposed to take care of her. According to the Archbishop, her next wipe is due soon" he said.

Index scowled at Motoharu. "Why would I agree to that?" she asked.

Motoharu opened his mouth to answer, but I cut him off.

"Why don't we just use my hand?" I asked.

"Your hand?" Mikoto and Motoharu said together.

"Yeah….it negates all supernatural phenomenon, right? Shouldn't it just destroy John's Pen?" I asked.

Motoharu frowned. "John's Pen is not just a magical construct, it is tied both to Index's mind and to the Prohibited Library." He said.

"Wait, your hand negates _all_ powers" Mikoto cut in, mouth agape.

I grinned at her. "Yup. That's how I won our little match back then" I said.

"That's just cheating" she grumbled.

"Wait, you won against her?" Motoharu asked dubiously.

I smirked at him, causing Mikoto to blush in embarrassment.

"I-it was a one-time thing, okay! I underestimated him!" she sputtered, much to mine and Motoharu's amusement.

"That's my Kami-yan, conquering the female species one at a time" he said, while I snickered at Mikoto's deepening blush.

"S-shut up!" she shouted. "L-let's get back on topic, what are we to do about Index's situation?" she asked, attempting to turn the attention away from her.

I smirked, while Motoharu sighed.

"We could try Kami-yan's hand. But I would rather not." He said.

"Why not?" Index asked, frowning. "It's better than having my memories wiped" she said.

"It's not safe" Motoharu said. "I don't know how John's Pen will react."

Index's scowl deepened.

"Why don't we just try it?" I asked.

Motoharu scowled. "No. We are not going to try your hand." He said.

All three of us frowned at him. While I expected skepticism, I didn't expect a bald refusal like that.

He held our gaze for a few seconds, and then sighed.

"I am not fully against the idea. But I think it would be better if we did a little research first." He said.

"What type of research?" Mikoto asked.

"I will be doing that. You are already far too deeply involved in the magical side. For you especially, that's a bad thing." He said, addressing Mikoto.

"Why so?" she asked, frowning.

"You are deeply involved with the scientists of Academy City, and a lot of eyes are already on you. If it came to be known amongst the magical cabals that you knew of magic, there would be an uproar" he said.

"Doesn't the Archbishop already know?" I countered.

Motoharu snorted. "Of course not, do you think I am stupid?" he said.

All our eyebrows shot up at that.

"Wait, so what did you tell the Archbishop?" I asked.

"I told her that a Level 0 friend of mine found Index, and that I was forced to rescue both of them" he said with a shrug.

The three of us gaped at him for a second.

"Wait, so why is it okay for her to know about me?" I asked.

"You are technically a Level 0. Academy city doesn't care much for you, so your knowing that magic exists is just slightly worrying. As long as you keep your mouth shut, it will be fine" he said. "Misaka-san, however, is the poster girl for the esper development program. If it got out that she knew about the magic side, it could very well trigger a small war"

Mikoto and me exchanged a look, and then I said, "Alright, you can do the research. How long will it take for you to give us an answer?" I asked.

"Hmmmm…" he hummed thoughtfully. "I am not really sure. I will contact you when I make progress" he said.

Index was still glaring at Motoharu, but didn't say anything.

I gave her a look, silently asking her if she wanted to say anything, but she didn't react, so I turned to Motoharu and said "Alright. We won't try to use my power on her." I said.

Motoharu nodded in agreement, and then clapped his hands.

"So, Kami-yan, I heard that you were seen skulking around with no less than _four_ girls this afternoon." He said, a grin on his face.

I groaned and slapped a hand against my face, while Mikoto blushed once more.

* * *

After I convinced Motoharu that my outing earlier today was _not_ a group date (much to the mortification of Mikoto. I thought she would faint from the amount she was blushing), Me and Index walked back to my room, while Mikoto left for her dorm.

"Touma." Index said the moment I closed the door behind me.

"What?" I asked turning around.

"I want you to use your hand on me." She said.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **The Hand Job**_ _]_

 _[Index wants to use your hand to break the spell she has been put under! Satisfy her desires, and bravely face the consequences of your actions!_

 _Rewards: 12000 EXP, increased closeness to Index. Failure: decreased closeness to Index, the shame of not being able to satisfy a Maiden's desires]_

I glared at the quest notification, before dismissing it and addressing Index.

"Why do you want me to risk that?" I asked.

Index scowled. "I only have about a year's worth of memories, but the last week or so getting to know you and Short-hair have been the best days of it. I don't wish to forget all about it. Besides, not knowing what happened to me is one of the scariest things in my life. I hate the feeling of not knowing my past. I hate not knowing how I got to where I am, and I don't want to go through that feeling again. Also, I don't trust Motoharu. He is a creature of the church, and we don't know what his true agenda is." She said.

"Yes, that's true, but what if destroying the spell wrecks your mind?" I asked softly.

"It's going to be destroyed anyway. I would much rather it be by your hand rather and my decision" she said.

"Why?" I asked, bewildered.

"Because somehow, I just know that you have no real reason other than to help me, unlike Motoharu and other lackeys of the Church." She said, looking directly into my eyes.

I felt an indescribably strong surge of emotion, before it was clamped down upon by Gamer's Mind.

"I will think about it." I sighed out a few seconds later.

Index beamed at me, and then said, "Now, I am hungry! What's for dinner?"

* * *

 **AN: well, that's that. Sorry about the infodump at the beginning of the chapter. I based it on the password that the MISAKA clones use as confirmation for the security clearance. Hope you like my explanation about Index's memory wipes. It has been intentionally changed slightly, before you ask.**

 **There has been a sudden surge in the number of followers out there, so to my new readers, Hello! Thanks for giving this a chance, and please do leave a review!**

 **Guest: I didn't get what you meant by chicken feed. Did you mean it was a trivially small change? If so, that was intentional.**

 **I am glad to see that you like this so much. I wonder which fic you are talking about on the RWBY side.**

 **Talking about SIs and RWBY, there is this really brilliant fic out there called Reiteration. It is not Gamer fic, but is the best SI fic I have ever read, so I would strongly recommend it.**


	16. Arc 2: The Underworld Trading Netwrok

**Beta Cookies to JediKage96. Check out his Star Wars story: A very Sidious Menace**

* * *

The next morning, I included Index in the Party (Which was still name 'Pikachu! I choose You', much to my amusement and Mikoto's ire). One advantage of the party system was that, as the default party leader, I could track all the party members, no matter how far they wereindependent of my Preternatural Awareness ability.

After tagging Index, I proceeded to find the small ramen shop where Frenda and I had met the Ragni. I was fed up with the lack of progress, and figured that I could at least do something about the Underworld quest, and get leads as to where I could find a weapon. If anything went wrong, I was confident that I would be able to track Index through the Party system.

After discreetly removing the stolen books from the Inventory and shoving them into my backpack, I walked into the shop.

Once again, I found the shop oddly empty, the only person being present being the dreamy-eyed woman minding the counter. Curious, I hit her with Observe.

 **Kaguya Inuzuka**

 **Lv 27**

[HP: ?]

[MP: ?]

[STR: ?]

[DEX: ?]

[VIT: ?]

[INT: ?]

[WIS: ?]

[CHA: ?]

[LUK: ?]

I frowned at the result I got. _"Why is her level visible but not her stats?"_ I thought to myself as I walked upto the counter and took a seat.

A few seconds of awkward silence later, Kaguya asked, "You came to dispose of the books?"

I nodded, mildly surprised that she remembered me. Then again, it was probably her job to do so.

She reached under the bar and handed me a small tablet computer.

I looked at it, and then raised an eyebrow at her.

"You can put up the books for sale on a private network, to which only devices distributed by us can connect to." She said.

I took the tablet from her, and then asked, "How will I get the money from the sale?"

"To sell or buy items, you need to make an account on the network. All proceeds from the auction will be credited in the form of virtual tokens, whose value is tied to the Yen." She said.

My eyebrows rose at that. "How do I get the money for real?" I asked.

"It can either be deposited into an anonymous bank account of your choosing, for a small fee. If you want it in cash, it will be delivered to you at a random drop point, whose location will be made known to you a couple of hours before the drop-time, which you can request. The fee for this service is slightly higher, though not by much" she said.

 _"Shadier and shadier…."_ I thought.

"And the exchange value?" I asked.

"It is the same as the yen. All the money in the network is backed by real money, which is stored by us. Because of our location, the only currency accepted for backing a deposit of tokens into your account is the Yen" She said.

"What is the cost for having the money changed into real-world currency?" I asked.

"For the deposit, one percent of the amount changed, and for a cash drop, one-point-five percent of the transaction amount. The minimum quantity for each type of transaction is half a million yen. Making withdrawals smaller than that doesn't justify the cost." She replied.

Against my will, I was impressed. If what she was saying was true, they were running their own banking operation right under the noses of the impressively thorough surveillance that permeated Academy City.

"How do these tablets link up to the network? Surely not through the mobile networks?" I asked

"Of course not. They operate on a completely different frequency, which is much higher than the generally used frequencies. It narrows the range down considerably, but is perfect for the high density of information transferred" she replied.

"Don't you need to register before using your own bandwidth of frequency?" I asked.

She just smirked back at me.

"Of course, what am I thinking? I am dealing with a criminal organization, _of course_ they don't have permission" I muttered. "What happens if the network is discovered?" I asked.

The woman shrugged. "Each device is linked to their owner's fingerprint. To make any real-world transactions, the tablet acts as an identifier. The fingerprints themselves are not linked to any person, just to the device number. If the network is discovered, all the devices will self-destruct. Similarly, if someone attempts to brute-force their way into your device, it will self-destruct." She said.

 _"Hmmm….so this system requires quite a bit of trust in the abilities of the person who programmed it. I doubt that it is truly relevant to me though, this is going into the Inventory anyway, and I doubt anything that is in there can be tracked. I have to test that out though…."_ I thought as I gave the tablet another appraising look.

"Who manages all of this?" I asked turning my gaze back onto Kaguya.

"It's a collaborative effort by all of the major underground factions of Academy City. It was spearheaded by the Ragni, but is maintained by all of us." She said.

"So, all I have to do is make an account?" I asked. "No deposits?"

She shook her head. "Normally you would, but you are putting up merchandise for sale, and that will act as a deposit. The merchandise will be linked to your device number" she replied.

"So, the moment a purchase is made, the virtual money will be deposited into my account?" I asked.

"Yes." She replied.

"Do you just give these to everyone when asked for?" I asked, curious.

"Of course not. Before being given one, you must be personally vetted by one of the five faction leaders or their approved representatives. In your case, your sponsor was the Ragni." She replied.

I frowned at that. The Ragni was giving me severely conflicting signals. She told me to stay away, but at the same time she made arrangements for my smooth induction into the underworld. How very odd.

Curious, I tried using Observe on the tablet.

 _[_ _ **Black Market Trading Module**_ _]_

 _[This is module which enables you to interact efficiently and safely with the Black Market and Underworld of Academy City. Registering on this device serves as your first real contact point with the Academy City Underworld.]_

Nodding to myself, I switched on the tablet.

It immediately asked for my fingerprint.

I frowned at the screen.

"The fingerprint is linked to the device, not the person. No names or photos are attached to the fingerprint which you will supply to it." Kaguya said, accurately guessing the reasoning behind my hesitation.

I glanced at her, and then back at the tablet.

 _"Hmmm….I could probably just destroy the thing if it asks for anything personal…."_ I thought to myself before pressing my index finger to the small scanner on the tablet.

 _[Quest_ _ **Path of the Rogue (Part II)**_ _completed!]_

 _[You gain 3000 EXP!]_

 _[_ _ **Underworld Trading and Missions**_ _unlocked!]_

I blinked at the slew of notifications, before focusing again on the screen of the tablet.

After the initial greeting screen faded out, it led to a screen with multiple tabs, labeled as Market, Jobs, Chatrooms and so on and so forth.

 _"Huh…I can work with this…."_ I thought.

"Is there anything else that I need to know?" I asked.

"It's all there in the T&C. I would suggest that you read through it before making any transactions" she said, eliciting an amused look from me. The very idea of reading the Terms and Conditions for a bit of software somehow amused me, though it shouldn't in this case.

"Alright. Thanks." I said, eliciting a nod of acknowledgement from her.

* * *

Upon reaching a safe distance away from the little shop, I discreetly deposited the books and the tablet into the inventory, figuring I could deal with it when there were fewer eyes around

 _[_ _ **Black Market Trading Module**_ _has been placed into the system! Do you wish to integrate it?]_

Once more, I found myself blinking in surprise at a notification that the Gamer sent me.

Curious, I tapped yes.

A few moments later, I got a notification that the integration was complete, and along with it, a new symbol had appeared below the small radio tower that represented my integrated mobile phone.

 _"A four-point star?"_ I thought. _"That's...weird..."_

However, my attention was grabbed by the position of one of the markers on my minimap.

 _"Goddamit Index, I told you not to leave home!"_ I thought to myself with a muttered curse.

* * *

I ascended up the stairs to my apartment muttering obscenities to myself.

By the time I reached the dorm, Index was back within the building, and I intended to give her a thorough tongue lashing about her little escapade. After which, I had to sit and go through the black market trading account's terms and conditions.

It was thus that I reached the top of the stairs in the blackest of moods, only for my eyes to fall upon a scene that brought about an intense feeling of déjà vu.

 _[A_ _ **People Clearing Field**_ _has been created!]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Chariots of Fire!**_ _]_

 _[Index has been grievously injured by parties unknown, and needs to be spirited away for immediate treatment. Defeat and/or escape from all enemies preventing you from achieving that goal_

 _Rewards: 12000 EXP, increased closeness to Index. Failure: Death by Fire]_

 _"Oh for Fuck's sake!_ " I thought to myself in exasperation at the timing of the quest notifications as I frantically dismissed them, moving over to check on Index.

Index was lying in front of my door, a deep slash on the back of her habit (which she had somehow found at the mall, and refused to leave without us buying it), a small pool of blood lying around her.

 _"That's not good"_ I thought to myself as I checked her vital signs, hoping that I had enough time to run before Stiyl made his appearance. Where was Motoharu when you needed him!?

"Get away from her!" A deep voice commanded.

I lifted my head towards the source of the voice, blood draining out of my face in dread.

 **Stiyl Magnus**

 **Lv 80**

[HP: 3025/3025]

[MP: 1020/1020]

[STR: 43]

[DEX: 35]

[VIT: 180]

[INT: 97]

[WIS: 65]

[CHA:20]

[LUK: 28]

 _[Stiyl Magnus is one of the prodigies of the Anglican Church, and is a master of runic magic, with a leaning for fire elemental magic, the culmination of which is his coup-de-grace: the summoning of the fire spirit Innocentius. At fourteen years of age, he is both amazingly tall and accomplished at the same time]_

 _"Oh, I am so dead, so very, very, dead"_ I thought to myself, whimpering on the inside in fear before Gamer's Mind forced my mental state back into unnatural calmness. The fear was then replaced by anger, which was once again reined in by the Gamer's Mind.

 _"Goddamn is that disconcerting..."_ I thought to myself.

I got up, and dusted my pants, calmly lifting my head up to meet Stiyl's eyes.

He smirked at me, the bastard.

"Looking at me like that won't do you any good." he said, that damnable smirk on his face. "I was not the one who slashed her, and I doubt Kanzaki intended to draw blood either." he said.

I scowled at him. "Where the hell were you guys! And why are you chasing Index?! Aren't you supposed to be protecting her!" I shouted, only the Gamer's Mind keeping my rage in check.

The smirk fell off.

"How do you know that?" he growled, conjuring a ball of flame in his hand.

"That's not relevant" I snapped. "Where on earth were-"

He interrupted me by throwing the conjured fireball at me, which I hastily dodged with a decidedly manly yelp.

"What the hell, Man!" I shouted.

"Change of plans." Stiyl said. "You too are coming with us."

"Wait what?" I asked, bewildered.

Instead of answering, Stiyl threw another fireball at me.

Through an instinct deeply ingrained into Touma's body, I lifted my right hand, causing the flames to disappear.

Both of us stared at each other, one in shock and the other in apprehension.

 _"Dammit, I didn't mean to dissipate the fire like that!"_ I thought, cursing my thoughtlessness.

"You dissipated the fire..." Stiyl muttered, stumped. He then scowled. "Take this on for size, then" he said.

"One of the five major elements that make up the world..." Stiyl chanted.

 _"What the fuck?"_ I thought, confused, as flames started moving in mesemrising patterns around him. It took me a second before I made the connection.

"The Witch Hunting Pope, Inoocentius!" he intoned, completing the summoning, causing a wave of intense heat to blast away from him, the dry heat enough to drop my HP by a few points. I watched in horror as the door handle of Motoharu's door melt of the frame due to the heat.

 **Innocentius**

 **King of Witch Hunters**

 **Lv ?**

[HP: ?]

[MP:?]

[STR: ?]

[DEX: ?]

[VIT: ?]

[INT: ?]

[WIS: ?]

[CHA: ?]

[LUK: ?]

"Dude, calm down!" I said, panicked at the unexpected escalation. "We just need to talk!"

In response, Innocentius charged at me.

Due to lack of choice, I was forced to use my hand again... though I knew that it wouldn't give me more than a temporary reprieve.

As expected, Innocentius started to reform behind me.

Before he could do so completely, I slashed my hand across the flames, ignoring the slow but steady loss of HP due to the heat.

 _[Through a special action, a new skill_ _ **Heat Resistance**_ _has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Heat Resistance**_ _(Lv1)(Passive): Reduces the damage taken by your body due to heat. Effect: Reduces damage from heat by[(Skill Level)+(Affinity Level)+ (Affinity Title Level)]*10 HP.]_

 _[_ _ **Heat Resistance**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _"Oh, you have got to be kidding me!_ " I thought, glancing at the notifications incredulously.

That second of distraction cost me dearly, as Innocentius had reformed, and was now holding a cross which looked to be made of solidified flames, as nonsensical as that seemed.

As it swung, I dodged backward, and then made for the stairs in a bid for time.

I jumped almost the entire way, stumbling to a stop at the bottom of the stairs. As I put a hand out to stabilize myself, my hand touched a piece of paper.

I glanced at it, and then ripped from the wall.

"Runes..." I muttered to myself, looking at the markings on the paper, which had been replicated hundreds of times in the corridors in front of me.

Suddenly it all clicked.

 _"The sprinklers!"_

Casting my eyes about, I looked for the nearest smoke detector.

My search however, was interrupted by the reappearance of Innocentius.

"Gah!" I exclaimed as the dry heat made itself known once more, sucking the moisture out of the air.

Thankfully, the thing appeared to be relatively slow moving.

I turned around and ran, looking for a sprinkler or smoke detector I could activate.

 _"There!"_ I thought as my eyes fell upon a smoke detector. _"Now how to activate it?"_

I had plenty of fuel around me in the form of those small cards, but how to light it?

 _"All I need is a spark..."_ I thought, before smacking myself in the head. Was I the Gamer or not?

 _[Through a special action, the skill_ _ **Spark**_ _has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Spark**_ _(Lv1)(Active): This allows you to raise the local electrical potential around any part of your body to create an electrical spark. The range and strength of the spark increases with level._

 _Range: 0.05m ]_

I blinked at the ridiculously small range, then figured that it made sense. A five centimeter spark was not something to scoff at.

By this time, Innocentius had found me again, and was charging at me.

 _"Oh for God's sake!_ " I thought as I fell back, watching in consternation as the smoke detector I intended to trip melted into a glob under Innocentius' heat.

Deciding to do two things at once, I lit the card in my hand using Spark and ran, covering the flames with my hand and grabbing a few more to serve as fuel.

A few corridors later, I found another, and desperately held my hand up, hoping to trip it before Innocentius came around again.

Just as the supernatural being rounded the corner, the detector tripped, and all the sprinklers went off.

As the water sizzled off Innocentius' body, the spirit managed to give off a sense of extreme exasperation, even though it didn't have a very well defined face.

Well, from it's point of view, I just tried to put it out with a bit of water, so it could be forgiven for the look of exasperation it gave me.

It roared once more, and charged.

 _"All I have to do is to wait for the runes to wash off, that should be enough"_ I thought to myself as I ran away, making sure I kept Innocentius in sight.

A few floors later, it suddenly stopped, and roared in exasperation.

I smirked at it as it slowly retreated, roaring at me as it went. A few floors of retreat later, It gave me one final glare, and then dissipated.

I gave a glance to the minimap, and was surprised to see Index and Stiyl at the same place that I had left them at.

Was he waiting for Innocentius to capture me? Maybe...

 _"Well, time to take the bastard by surprise"_ I thought, grinning and cracking my knuckles in anticipation.

* * *

 **AN: Well...I have to say**

 **That escalated quickly.**

 **Not the plot, the response to this story.**

 **When I uploaded the previous chapter, I had about 45 followers, and 30 favs.**

 **That number has more than doubled, on both counts. just on the last upload. And I got 1.3k hits on upload day. And crossed 10k overall. It jumped from 5.3k to 10k. Just like that.**

 **WOW!**

 **So, to all my new readers, Welcome! Thank you for giving this a chance!**

 **Guest: I read a Game of Grimm Consequences. I am sort of flattered that you like mine after reading that story.**

 **Paradox Reader: I haven't really thought about Pierce. I want him to be something like the Pierce from the fic Unlucky Star. Eh, it should be fun.**

 **Until next time folks**


	17. Arc 2: St George's Sanctuary

I peeked around the edge of the stairwell landing, the old baseball bat from my only adventure in the creepy spirit world in my hand.

Stiyl had his back to me, and was kneeling next to Index, his cloak dripping being the only sound. Fortunately, the stairwell was only a couple of doors down from where he was, but it was still more than enough time for him to react.

Frankly, I was surprised that he hadn't reacted to the dissipation of Innocentius. Maybe the mana once used didn't return to him?

Shaking my head to rid it of errant thoughts, I decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Pausing for a moment to allow Current to take a hold over the bat, I silently charged from the stairwell.

I never did understand why people shouted when they charged. Why give your opponent any warning?

Stiyl stood up and turned around just in time for me to hit his face with the bat.

There was a sickening crunch as Stiyl's nose broke, his hair standing up as he was shocked by the electrified bat.

He fell unconscious in mildly smoldering heap.

 _[Quest_ _ **Chariots of Fire**_ _complete!]_

 _[You have gained 12000 EXP!]_

 _[Due to completing a hidden objective you have gained and additional 10000 EXP!]_

 _[_ _ **Current**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _"That….was pretty satisfying"_ I thought as a put the bat back into inventory and knelt next to Index.

Her eyes were open, and her pupils were dilated. Unnaturally so.

"Index?" I asked, wondering if she were actually awake.

"Yes. I am associated with the zeroth section of the Church of England, the Necessarius, and am its grimoire library. My official name is Index-Librorum-Prohibitorum, and addressing me by its shortened form, Index will suffice. I am currently operating on emergency mode under the Automatic Secretary John's Pen due to extreme blood loss. By current calculations, this body will lose the ability to support itself in forty five minutes to one hour. I would request you to help me repair this body by following my instructions." She intoned in a lifeless tone.

 _[A Quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Emergency Services**_ _]_

 _[Index has been grievously injured at the hands of a third party, and needs immediate healing. However, as she is an illegal immigrant to the city, it is not advisable to take her to a hospital, and you are incapable of healing her due to the unique nature of your powers._

 _Heal Index successfully within the time limit._

 _Time: 48 mins]_

 _[Reward: 15000 EXP, increased closeness to Index. Failure: Index dies.]_

 _[BONUS: Heal Index through magical means. Reward; 10000 EXP, increased closeness to Index]_

 _"Oh, godammit!"_ I cursed internally.

"You will have to wait, I don't think I am capable of healing you." I said.

"Previous data is consistent with your observation. You have the ability to nullify all of the supernatural, and are thus useless in this respect" Index (John?) said. "Shutting down to maintain core functions"

I winced at the flat assessment.

* * *

As I was making my way down the stairs, I heard a welcome voice at this point.

"Kami-yan? What happened?" Motoharu asked.

"Index was attacked" I grunted. "I was getting her out of here before people came to investigate." I said.

"Irrelevant" he said, waving me off. "The people clearing field will ensure that nobody's attention will fall upon this place. How badly is she hurt? And who attacked!" he asked.

"According to John's Pen, she has about an hour. The guy who attacked me was named Stiyl." I replied.

"Tall, red hair, something like a barcode under his right eye?" Motoharu asked.

When I nodded in confirmation, he cursed.

"What on earth is that overgrown brat doing?!" he asked rhetorically.

"He is unconscious upstairs" I said.

Motoharu stared at me in disbelief.

I rolled my eyes at him and said, "You can process that later, we need to heal Index."

Snapping himself out of it, he nodded at me. "Get her up to my place. And why didn't you call me?" he asked.

"I prioritized getting her away from Stiyl. I didn't know if I could restrain him effectively" I said.

He nodded in response, and both of us made our way up.

* * *

 _[Quest_ _ **Emergency Services**_ _complete!]_

 _[You have gained 15000 EXP!]_

 _[You have completed a BONUS objective!]_

 _[You gain 10000 EXP!]_

 _[You have gained a level!]_

 _[You now have 30 stat points!]_

After kicking down the remains of Motoharu's door down, Motoharu sat down to perform the ritual to heal Index while I dragged the insensate Stiyl into the house.

While Index was being healed, I went about tying Stiyl to a chair. Both of us were done at about the same time.

"Say, Motoharu. Don't the cameras and stuff work in a people clearing field?" I asked.

"They do. But nobody will pay attention to their outputs as long as the field is up. It redirects their attention." He replied as he lay the unconscious Index gently onto the bed.

 _"Huh. Isn't that convenient…."_ I thought.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now, we wake up Stiyl here." He said. "Nice job with his nose by the way."

I grinned. "It was my pleasure"

Motoharu flung a cup of water at Stiyl's face, rudely shocking him awake.

It took him a few seconds to get over the initial grogginess. He then realized he was tied up.

"Release me." He growled, glaring at me.

"Not so fast _Fortis 931_ " Motoharu growled right back.

Stiyl turned to face Motoharu for the first time, his mouth dropping open in surprise.

"What are you doing here?!" Stiyl asked

"What are _you_ doing here?" Motoharu shot back. "Why have you been attacking Index?"

Stiyl scowled, but didn't reply.

Motoharu frowned. "Stop being reticent. The Archbishop is already pissed off with how you two have slipped up…" Motoharu said before trailing off, paling.

"What happened?" I asked.

He opened his mouth to reply, and then the window behind him exploded in an explosive shower of shards.

"Motoharu!" I shouted even as I brought my hands up to protect myself. The flying shards dug deep into several parts of my body, though the angle of the bed with respect to the window prevented the shards from reaching Index.

 _[By taking large amounts of damage, your VIT has gone up by 1!]_

Stiyl however, was not so lucky, and howled in pain as the shards flew past him.

As I brought my hands down, a shape flew in through the ruined window, and knocked the surprised Motoharu unconscious with a sheathed katana.

 _"Oh you have got to be kidding me! I knew my luck was holding out too well!"_ I thought as the person stood up to their full height, her eyes immediately falling upon the tied up Stiyl.

 **Kanzaki Kaori**

 **Saint**

 **Lv: ?**

Before she could move, I placed myself protectively between them and Index.

Her eyes had narrowed upon observing the tied up Stiyl, and she spun towards me when I moved to place myself between them and Index.

"Stop!" I shouted, hands up in the air to show my lack of intent in attacking them.

Not like I could do anything anyway…..

"Speak." She said, a hand on her sheathed katana while she glared up a storm at me.

"Why are you attacking Index?! According to Motoharu here, you were assigned to _protect_ her!" I said exasperatedly.

Kaori's eyes narrowed, before turning to look at Motoharu, her mouth dropping in surprise as well.

"Tsuchimikado-san?" she said, confused, before turning her gaze upon me.

"Explain." she said.

* * *

Several tense minutes later, Kaori was picking out glass shards from Stiyl's body while we waited for Motoharu and Index to come around.

"You utter idiots!" I exclaimed, causing both Kaori and Stiyl to wince.

"W-well, it seemed to be the only way…" Kaori stuttered.

I palmed my face.

"You could have just introduced yourselves as bodyguards and stopped trying to cultivate a relationship every time you wiped her memory." I said exasperatedly.

Both of them glared at me.

"It is not as simple as that…." Stiyl said, glaring.

"I am sure it isn't." I drawled. "I wouldn't have cared if she were all safe and sound with your method. Instead, I came across her half dead, being chased by rogue magicians" I said.

"How do you know of magic?" Kaori asked, frowning at me.

"I didn't know. I came across Index being chased by two rogue mages, and Motoharu and I tended to her after being rescued" I said, purposefully downplaying my role in the rescue and omitting any mention of Mikoto. "She refused to stay with Motoharu after he told us of his affiliation with the Anglican Church. She has been staying with me instead."

"Why was she roaming the streets alone then?" Stiyl asked, his glare not having eased off by even a degree.

I scowled. "I don't know. She was supposed to sit at home, she was specifically prohibited from leaving the house without me. I had some small errands to run. According to Motoharu, Academy City is a sort of taboo zone for mages, and they can't enter easily unless given permission, so I assumed she would be okay for an hour or so, as long as she didn't leave the dorm." I said.

At this point, Motoharu got up with a groan, clutching his head.

While he gained cognizance, I made my way to the kitchen, and came back with a cup of water and an aspirin.

"Here" I said, pushing them into Motoharu's hands.

He nodded in appreciation, taking the pill.

Grimacing, he turned to face the three of us.

"What did I miss?" He asked.

I snorted. "I have been berating them upon the idiocy of their actions, and brought them up to speed as to how I found Index and how you helped during and after her rescue." I said, hoping that he would get the hint and improvise as required.

Both Stiyl and Kaori glared at me.

"Just what have you two been up to?" Motoharu asked while massaging his head. "If it weren't for my lucky presence in Academy City, Index would have been captured! And according to her you have been chasing her down?!"

"What happened to the Walking Church?" Kaori asked softly.

"The rogue mages destroyed it. I don't know how" Motoharu said shortly. "How did you end up chasing Index to Academy City?"

Both of them winced. "We lost track of her. When we tried to cast a spell on her, she interrupted the spell, and at the same time, broke the tracking enchantment we had placed on her." Stiyl said.

A terrified squeak came from behind me and Motoharu, and we turned to see Index sitting on the bed.

Her eyes were wide in terror, and she had squeezed herself as far away as possible from Stiyl and Kaori. The expression on her face decided it for me.

"Get out" I growled, turning to face Stiyl and Kaori.

Stiyl scowled. "Listen here-"

"GET OUT!" I roared. "You are terrifying her, don't you see that!" I said.

Stiyl rose, an ugly expression on his face, but Kaori pulled him back.

"Let's go" she said in a soft voice.

"What! We can't-"

"She is safe for now. Let's just go." She said, pulling Stiyl towards the door.

"But-"

"No buts" she said, cutting him off. "Tsuchimikado-san will not allow her to come to harm, and that is enough for me. We can discuss this later." She said.

For a second, Stiyl looked like he might argue, but then, he glanced at Index, and deflated.

"Let's go." He said, and turned around, with Kaori following behind him.

I turned to face Index, who had now started hyper-ventilating.

I slowly walked towards her and held her chin with one hand.

"Look in my eyes" I ordered.

Her vibrantly green eyes locked onto mine, wide with terror.

"Deep breaths. You are safe now." I said, hoping that my presence would help her calm down. Thankfully it worked, and she slowly relaxed, her eyes losing their wild edge, her breathing normalizing.

Motoharu looked at the scene playing out, before asking in forcefully calm voice, "Just what reason did they give for terrorizing their charge so?"

I let go of Index, and turned to face Motoharu. "They are sentimental fools" I said.

"Elaborate" Motoharu and Index said at the same time.

Both Motoharu and I turned to look at Index, surprised at her demand.

She shrunk away from our gazes for a second, before replying.

"I want to know. They have been chasing me for so long, and they always seemed to…let me go at the last second. I never questioned it before, assuming it was luck, but when I think upon it, there were too many such instances for it to be co-incidence, especially with what I have learnt from Motoharu about their supposed mission" she said.

Both of us stared at her for couple of seconds.

I broke the spell by shrugging and said, "They said they were not able to take the pain of having to see Index lose all the memories she had of them every year, of her forgetting all of the moments they shared and the relationship she had built with them and starting at square one every time. So they thought it better that Index think them the enemy. They would be able to observe her from a distance and not go through the same pain again."

Motoharu and Index gaped at my words.

"But….but…..That's so stupid!" Index exclaimed

I snorted, while Motoharu's gaze turned pensive.

"You are saying…that my loss of memory is what caused them to do this?" Index asked.

I snorted. "Your memory loss is not the problem. They were idiots." I said.

Silence reined for a few minutes, each of us occupied with our own thoughts.

"Let's do it now" Index said, breaking the silence.

"So what now?" I asked.

"The removal of John's Pen. Your hand can negate it, yes?" Index said, looking at me.

Both Motoharu and I gaped at Index.

"Time Out" I said, making a T with my hands. "I thought we agreed to wait?" I said.

"Yeah, I am still not sure how its removal will affect you" Motoharu said.

"IT DOESN'T MATTER" Index screamed, stunning both of us into silence once again.

"Index, what's wrong?" I asked softly.

"I don't want to be chased anymore" she said, tears beginning to form in her eyes. "I don't want to lose my memories, I don't want to lose what I have here."

"But if we try to brute-force John's Pen out, you might lose your sanity" I said gently.

"It doesn't matter" Index said furiously. "He said my memories have to be wiped every year. A week from now, one year will have passed from the last memory I have."

I blinked at that. "Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yes I am sure, I have a photographic memory! Do you know how horrible it is, knowing that you have a perfect memory but not being able to recall anything past a certain point of time? When you are being chased in all directions, and you have almost no idea what to do!" she said, tears falling with every word.

"I have had enough. If I am to be a victim my entire life, I would much rather be one with all my memories intact" she said, drying her eyes.

Motoharu and I exchanged a look.

I was worried about what would happen when we destabilized John's Pen. I _knew_ that Index would go on a rampage for a short amount of time till John's Pen lost its hold on Index, and was pretty confident that me and Motoharu would be able to contain her while that happened. I wasn't too worried about the feathers either, I knew that I had to avoid them, and they fell pretty slow.

My gaze fell upon Index's tear streaked face, and I made my decision.

"Motoharu. Do you know what has to be done?" I asked.

"I would not suggest this course of action, Touma. It is not safe." Motoharu said.

"Screw safe. In the past week, four mages have managed to get through the Academy City defenses, and we were lucky that two of them happened to be friendlies. It would be better if Index were equipped with the knowledge to repel such people, or at the very least know whom to turn to in a situation like that." I said.

Motoharu gave me a calculating look, which I could make neither heads nor tails off.

"Alright then. Your power, it needs physical contact to work?" He asked.

I nodded in response.

"Then the only thing you can do to get rid of John's Pen is to remove the anchoring rune tattooed to the top of Index's mouth. It is the only physically accessible part of John's Pen wihout you having to touch her brain directly." He said

"Index?" I asked.

She looked at me, determination shining through her eyes.

"Let's do this" she said.

* * *

After checking that the People Clearing Field that Stiyl set up was still present ("Of course he would forget to collapse his field. Now it will take at least six to eight hours to dissipate" Motoharu had sighed), we had Index lie down on the bed.

"I don't know how John's Pen will react to what you are going to do. In a perfect universe, it will just dissipate, but it is more likely that it will attack us in a last ditch attempt to defend Index from what it perceives to be an attack before it loses its hold on its host." Motoharu cautioned as he….folded paper dragons?

"What are you doing?" I asked curiously.

"Preparing my spells. I may not be able to cast more than a few, but it should be enough to contain Index" he said.

I looked at it for a few more seconds, then shook my head. _"I will ask him later_ " I thought.

Turning to Index, I asked, "Are you ready?"

She nodded, and then opened her mouth, waiting for me to do the honours.

I looked at her, and steeled myself, gently putting a finger in her mouth and probing for the tattooed rune.

There was the sound of breaking glass, and both Motoharu and I were thrown back by a blast of light.

 _[Quest_ _ **The Hand Job**_ _complete!]_

 _[You have gained 12000 EXP!]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Dragonbreath**_ _]_

 _[By removing the anchor to John's Pen, you have caused it to identify you as a threat. Survive against John's Pen till it loses its hold over Index_

 _Reward: 10000 EXP, increased closeness to Index. Failure: They won't even find pieces of you]_

I blinked at the notifications, and swiped them away, turning my gaze upon Index

 **Index Librorum Prohibitotum (John's Pen Mode)**

 **The Automatic Secretary**

 **Lv ?**

[HP: ?]

[MP:?]

[STR: ?]

[DEX: ?]

[VIT: ?]

[INT: ?]

[WIS: ?]

[CHA: ?]

[LUK: ?]

 _"_ _I am getting really tired of not being able to see people's levels"_ I thought.

"Warning. Chapter 3, Verse 2. Confirmed penetration of seals 1 to 3. Preparing to regenerate. Regeneration failure. Prioritizing engagement with intruder to protect the Forbidden Library." She (it?) said.

"Deconstruction of method used to disrupt seals failed. Constructing local weapon to deal with intruder. Initiating St. George's Sanctuary." She continued, seals expanding outward from her while I scrambled upwards, desperate to disrupt the spell before it took hold.

I was too late.

A beam of white light lanced towards me, and I was just able to put my hand up to negate the spell.

 _[Warning! Rate of dissipation of skill_ _ **Imagine Breaker**_ _has been exceeded. All excess damage will be negated from the user's HP]_

I watched in horror as my HP bar started dropping perilously fast.

"Motoharu, do something!" I shouted.

"Nothing I have will be effective against this! I didn't expect the defense to be so strong!" He shouted back.

"DISRUPT HER POSITION YOU IDIOT!" I shouted.

The lightbulb finally went off in Motoharu's head, and he started chanting something, while I used my other hand to brace my right.

A few seconds later, a dragon made of water flew past me, went under the bed and exploded outwards, upending it, causing the beam to shift away from me and into the sealing.

I winced at that. _"How on earth are we going to explain that away?"_ I thought as the beam blew clean through the roof and to the sky above.

I watched I awe for a second as the white beam lit up the sky, a shower of feathers coming down upon us.

Then, before John's Pen could turn the beam back upon me, I dashed forward and touched Index's head with my right hand, causing Imagine Breaker to go off once more

 _[Quest_ _ **Dragonbreath!**_ _Complete!]_

 _[You have gained 10000 EXP!]_

"War…ni..ng. Fi…na..l Cha…pter…Ve…rse…Zero. 'Necklace' suf…fered..fatal…dest…ruction. Regen…eration..Imp.." she said as she fell backwards, the red runes fading out of her eyes.

At the same time, I fell back, and out of range of the feathers, turning to face Motoharu, a jubilant grin on my face.

Motoharu however, was not smiling. Instead, a grim expression was on his face.

"Motoharu? What happened?" I asked, confused.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry about this." He said.

"What?" I asked, bewildered.

Instead of replying, Motoharu shoved me backwards.

Right into the rain of feathers.

My eyes widened in shock. However, before I could do anything, I felt one of the feathers touch the tip of my nose.

 _"_ _Oh fuck…."_ I thought

 _[FATAL ERROR!]_

 _[INITIATING EMERGENCY SHUTDOWN!]_

And then all went black.

* * *

 **AN: Ohhhhhh how long I have been waiting to put this chapter down. So much fun. Hope you liked it**

 **Guest: I am going to call you Mr.X for now since you are one of my mot faithful reviewers and I starting to get other guest reviews. I still feel incredibly happy when I read what you have written. Thank mate, and I hope I never disappoint**

 **Guest (1): Well, as I said in the first chapter, my updates will be sporadic. I may suddenly drop off the map, as fanfiction is not my priority. I do enjoy writing this, but I won't make promises I can't keep. But, hopefully, for at least a while, you will get updates at a decent speed.**

 **Anyway, I added a new AN to chapter 1 stating clearly that the initial base of this work is from a fic called "The Name of the Game" from the RWBY fandom.**

 **Until next time folks**


	18. Arc 2: Memories Lost

**Beta Creds to the ever patient JediKage96. For once, I went to him before uploading the chapter**

 **Also, I have out up some cover art! Forgive the amateurishness, I drew it myself, and I am no artist**

* * *

I woke up to the sound of a curtain being drawn aside

 _[Reboot complete!]_

 _[Would you like to load from saved data?]_

 _{Yes/No}_

I blinked at the translucent blue window that was in front of me.

 _"Is this a hallucination?"_ I thought, staring at the dialogue box.

I pinched myself. Hard. It hurt.

The box was still there.

"Ah! Megasameta ka, Kamijou-kun! Choto matetene, watashi wa isha wa yobimasu!" A woman said, causing me to turn in the direction of the sound.

The woman was dialing a number on a small handset beside my bed. From the antiseptic tang and the woman's uniform, I guessed that I was at a hospital, and the woman was a nurse.

For a fleeting second, I wondered how I got to the hospital. Then my attention was grabbed by the words floating above the woman's head.

 **Ryuuko Ai**

 **Nurse**

 **Lv 9**

The woman chattered rapidly in some unknown language, which sounded much like what she had been talking to me with, set the handset down and hurried out of the room.

All the while, I stared in disbelief at the words that were floating above her head.

My eyes fell back on the dialogue box, which had repositioned itself at a corner of my main view cone.

Hesitantly, I tried to drag it back to the center of my vision.

The box responded to my touch, and brought itself back to the center of my vision.

I stared at it some more, trying to decide whether this was real or an elaborate hallucination.

In the end, I shrugged to myself, and hit yes.

 _[Loading file from Slot 1...]_

 _[LOAD FAILED!]_

 _[Data unusable!]_

 _[Attempting data recovery...]_

 _[Recovery impossible!]_

 _[Loading file from Slot 2...]_

 _[LOAD FAILED!]_

 _[Data unusable!]_

 _[Attempting data recovery...]_

 _[Recovery impossible!]_

 _[Loading file from Slot 3...]_

 _[LOAD SUCCESS!]_

 _[You are now playing on the profile_ _ **Kamijou Touma**_ _!]_

 _[_ _ **Error**_ _: Title_ _ **The Traveler**_ _is not able to read data from other available saved files]_

The moment the success notification came up, I blinked at the screen, and then frowned as my sense of confusion as to what the screen in front of me was changed to confusion about my current scenario.

 _"Now why did the Game reboot? Why am I in a hospital? What on earth happened?!"_ I thought.

Before I could ponder upon it any further, the door burst open, and the curtains, which had been closed by the nurse as she left, were ripped aside to reveal an out of breath Index.

I looked at her in surprise, and then asked her, "Index. What happened? Why am I in a hospital?"

Index gasped, and then to my abject horror, tears began forming in her eyes.

"Index?" I asked warily. I didn't want to set her off more than I already apparently had.

Without another word, she launched herself at me, and I found myself confusedly patting a sobbing Index on the top of her head.

"You remember!" she bawled into my shoulder.

"Of course I remember, why would I forget? Now will you please tell me why I am in a hospital when the last thing I remember is me falling asleep in _my_ bed last night?" I asked, confused with the drama and frustrated by the lack of answers.

Index peered up at me from my lap. "What is the last thing you remember?" she asked.

"I remember making some ongiris for you, and then going to sleep" I said.

She gave me a sad smile at that. "That was day before yesterday" she said, causing me to gape in shock.

Before I could question her further, the door burst open once more.

Both of us turned to see Mikoto standing stock-still at the entrance, staring at us.

I cocked an eyebrow at her.

Her bangs sparked, and her expression grew thunderous.

"Misaka-san?" I asked warily.

"You...you...IDIOT!" she shouted.

Her little shout was accompanied by a burst of sparks, which I intercepted through pure instinct, thankfully for Index.

"Misaka-san, calm down! What happened?!" I shouted, eyes wide with fear.

"What happened?! WHAT HAPPENED?" she shouted, a note of hysteria entering her voice.

"He doesn't remember anything" Index cut in, causing Mikoto to stare at her instead.

"What" she said in a flat tone.

Index sighed. "The last thing he remembers is cooking dinner for me day before yesterday" she said.

"What happened?" I asked, looking at Index.

Index sighed once more, while Mikoto gave me one final glare, before dragging a chair next to the bed and sitting down with a huff.

"Yesterday morning, you left the house muttering something about enigmatic crime lords and left the house, telling me not to leave before you came back" she said.

 _"That's right! I had planned to go and meet that Kaguya woman about selling the books I liberated from the library!"_ I thought.

"However, half an hour after you left, someone tried to locate me" she said. "I tried Motoharu's door, but he was not there, so I tried to distance myself from the spot at which the locating charm had hit me. However, not fifteen minutes later, a people clearing field went up, and I found myself being chased by the tall, fire wielding guy." she said.

"Stiyl Magnus" I said. Then I frowned as Index broke off to stare at me.

"What?" I asked.

"Did Motoharu tell you his name?" Index asked.

"Of course he didn-" I started saying before breaking off with a frown.

Motoharu hadn't told me the names of the mages chasing Index. But I knew them. I knew they were chasing Index.

Why did I know their names?

Index gave me an odd look, before continuing.

"I made it to the door of the dorm before I felt something slash across my back. Then I blacked out." she said.

"I woke up to see you and Motoharu talking to the two mages who had been chasing me for the past year." she said, swallowing. "I am afraid I sort of... blanked out a bit. All I remember was you shouting at them to get out, and then getting me to calm down."

Mikoto and I exchanged a glance at that. _"Just what had those two done to install such abject terror in Index's mind at the sight of them?"_ I thought.

"Motoharu then asked you what reason they had given for chasing me." she continued, and then gave a watery chuckle. "According to you, they couldn't take the pain of me losing all memories of them every year, so they chose to make it such that I would have no relationship with them by pretending to be my enemies."

"WHAT?!" Mikoto and I exclaimed.

Index gave an uncharacteristic bark of laughter at that. "You were equally indignant yesterday" she said, looking at me. "Then, I convinced you and Motoharu to destroy John's Pen immediately"

I frowned in response. "Isn't that incredibly risky?" I asked. "I mean, as far as I know, John's Pen is entwined with your mind."

Index nodded. "That's exactly what you two said. But I couldn't take it anymore" she said, her expression becoming fierce. "It didn't matter anyway, I was bound to lose my memories in a few days anyway. It's as good as losing my mind to me".

"I am assuming that I said no?" I interjected.

Index blinked. "No, actually. You put up a lot less resistance than expected."

"Wait what?" I asked, bewildered.

"You went through with it." She said again.

"What did you do to convince me to take such a risk" I asked incredulously.

"What I said just now." She replied. "With a few more tears maybe?"

I gaped at her. Mikoto snorted at the expression on my face.

"I had pretty much the same reaction when she told me that." She said, smirking.

"Wait, you already know what happened?" I asked.

Mikoto shrugged. "Apparently she lost consciousness after you negated the…anchor? In her mouth. According to Motoharu, John's Pen went on a rampage after that and destroyed your apartment." She said.

"How did I end up unconscious in a hospital? I mean…." I said, giving Mikoto a significant look over Index's head.

Mikoto glared at me. "Yeah, I know. Which is why I was so worried." She sad.

"Sorry?" I said, sounding more questioning than repentant.

Mikoto's glare intensified.

I put my hands up defensively. "I don't even know what happened last night! Give a guy a break!" I said.

"I am warning you…." She said through gritted teeth.

"Alright, alright! Calm down!" I exclaimed nervously as sparks started flying between the fringes of her bangs.

Turning back to Index, I asked, "So what happened after you fell unconscious?"

"According to Motoharu, John's Pen assumed that you were an enemy, and proceeded to attack you with a spell called St. George's Sanctuary." She said with a gulp. "It is one of the most powerful spells in existence, based on the story of St. George slaying the Dragon. It's supposed to be an army killer."

"Apparently, the spell was powerful enough that your hand wasn't able to negate it fast enough. So Motoharu took out the ground under me by upending the bed, causing the beam to turn skyward. Before it could turn it back on you, you used your hand on me, breaking John's Pen's hold on me." She said.

I frowned. "None of this explains why I am in a hospital" I said.

Index scowled. "I am getting to it. The last stage of the spell… well it's complex to explain, but it ends in a shower of ethereal feathers, which are representations of the dragon's wings falling to the earth. A single touch of them is known destroy a man's mind completely. According to Motoharu, when I collapsed, you rushed forward into the rain of feathers despite him warning against it. A feather touched your head, and the moment it did so, you fell unconscious. Then he brought you to the hospital when you didn't wake up."

"You have no idea how frightening it was…" Mikoto muttered.

I frowned. "Were you there yesterday?" I asked, confused.

She glared at me. "No. I wasn't. You promised that you would keep me informed if anything happened!" she said.

I scratched my head at that. "I can only assume that events moved to fast for me to inform you" I said.

Mikoto growled menacingly.

"When you passed out, the party you created dissolved. Violently. I passed out myself, though I came to within a few minutes. Kuroko was beside herself with worry. And that is nothing compared to the panic I felt when I realized that the Party window was gone, and I was not able to reach your phone." She said through gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry?" I said, the statement curling into a question.

"Oh you are impossible!" she shouted, before walking out of the room, leaving me dumbfounded.

Shrugging to myself, I turned my gaze upon Index, and then recoiled when I saw she was giving me a fierce glare herself.

"You shouldn't belittle her worry so." She said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Index glare became a confused frown. "I don't know how to explain it. The way you were treating her… She was worried Touma! You can't just….dismiss it!" she said.

I frowned. "I am fine now, aren't I?" I asked.

Index scowled, before getting off the bed. "That's not the point. If you don't get what you did, I can't spell it out for you. Figure it out, and apologize to Misaka-san" she said with a huff, getting of the bed, and walking to the door.

As she walked out, Motoharu walked in.

"Motoharu! Why did you allow me to go through with what sounds like one of my most idiotic plans!" I asked.

Motoharu grinned at me. "Well, Kami-yan, I doubted I could get through your thick head, so I decided to just go with the flow." He said.

I scowled at him.

"I should thank you though. According to Index, you were instrumental in the process. You even tried to warn me against going into the rain of feathers." I said.

Motoharu looked at me curiously. "How much do you remember?" He asked.

"About yesterday? Absolutely nothing. All I know is what Index told me just now." I replied.

Something inexplicable flashed in Motoharu's eyes.

Before I could comment upon it, I was distracted by a notification from the Game.

 _[_ _ **Alert!**_ _System checks complete. You have 3 issues and one pending feature!]_

I blinked at the notification, and then ignored it for the moment, as Motoharu was sitting in front of me.

"So" Motoharu said, bringing my attention back upon him, "After the two of you passed out, Stiyl and Kaori showed up. They saw the light show that Index caused, and came to investigate."

"Index didn't tell me that…" I muttered.

"That's because she doesn't know." Motoharu said.

I gave him a sharp look.

"I didn't want to upset her." He said with a sigh. "Anyway, they aren't relevant anymore."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"I contacted the Archbishop after yesterday's fiasco. The short of it is that Index has been remanded to my care, while Stiyl and Kaori have been recalled to England." He said.

"That's good…" I said.

"Furthermore, The Archbishop has no idea about your involvement, and she also doesn't know that John's Pen has been destroyed" he continued.

I gaped at him.

He chuckled at my expression, the bastard.

I scowled at him, and then asked, "Stiyl and Kaori went along with this?" I asked.

"Oh, they don't know either. I have told them that there was a malfunction with John's Pen, and that I handled it. You were unfortunately injured in the process." He said.

I gave him a confused look. "Why would you do that?" I asked.

"Because I have a vested interest in keeping Index safe. She was my friend, even if she doesn't remember anymore. I am beyond pissed at Stiyl's and Kaori's actions. Sad as it is, Index doesn't trust me anymore, and it will take a long time for her to trust anyone involved with the Church." He said.

"This is the only way that Index will remain safe and happy" he said softly.

I swallowed thickly at that.

"So Index will be staying with you from now on?" I asked.

Motoharu snorted. "What did I just say? Index doesn't trust me at all. No, she will continue to stay with you. I am satisfied with the current arrangement. The only reason that Stiyl and Kaori were able to get in was because they came in through official channels." He said.

"Doesn't that mean that any magician can just apply for a visa and get in?" I asked.

Motoharu chuckled. "It's not as simple as that. I don't know how they got away with it, but Academy City is pretty good and preventing magicians from getting in. The other two who attacked Index only got away because of the People Clearing Field that was setup. All the response teams got diverted, and by the time they corrected their course, they had fled." He said.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "How do you know all of this?" I asked.

He gave me an enigmatic smile. "Now that would be telling wouldn't it? You will just have to trust in my good intentions. Rest assured, what I want most is for everyone to end up being happy" he said.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Shady Characters**_ _]_

 _[Your friend Motoharu Tsuchimikado has shown himself to know much more about events than he rightly should, both as just a simple student of Academy City or a member of the Anglican Church. Investigate his circumstances, and find out the truth behind the web of lies_

 _Reward: ? Failure: ?]_

I gave Motoharu a narrow eyed glare, which caused him to chuckle.

Then, the doctor with the messed up name walked in.

"Ah, Kamijou-kun! Welcome back!" he said jovially.

I scowled at him.

"Let's get this over with, I am perfectly fine!" I said exasperatedly. And it was true, thanks to Gamer's Body, I couldn't take any measureable physical damage.

"Now, I shall be the judge of that" he said, steel lacing his tone, while Motoharu grinned at me behind the Doctor's back.

I sighed, and resigned myself to a boring series of routine checks.

* * *

An hour later, I found myself walking in awkward silence with Mikoto and Index. Motoharu had taken his leave with a parting jab about me keeping my women in line.

Mikoto was scowling, kicking random stones with a lot more vehemence than usual, muttering incoherently under her breath. Index was giving me the silent treatment, and I had no idea why.

I sighed.

" _Well if that's how it is going to be…."_ I thought in frustration, before turning my attention onto the Game.

 _[_ _ **Error:**_ _Saved File 1 is irrecoverably damaged. Do you wish to delete the file?]_

 _[_ _ **Error**_ _: Saved File 2 is irrecoverably damaged. Do you wish to delete the file?]_

 _[_ _ **Error:**_ _Title_ _ **The Traveler**_ _is not able to read data from saved files]_

 _[Tutorial for_ _ **Underworld Trading Network**_ _is pending]_

I blinked, and went to the list of saved files.

 _[_ _ **Saved Data**_ _]_

 _[_ _ **Slot 1**_ _:_ # $%^!^

 _!# $%^! &_

 _Inactive]_

 _[_ _ **Slot 2**_ _:_!#$ %^&!

$%%%!^&

 _Inactive]_

 _[_ _ **Slot 3**_ _: Touma Kamijou_

 _Updated: July 3, 00:00_

 _Active]_

While before, just the name was unreadable, now everything about it was completely unreadable.

Frowning, I clicked on one of the files.

 _[Data unreadable! Do you wish to delete this file?]_

Frown deepening, I hit yes.

 _[Data deletion unsuccessful!]_

" _What was the point of asking me then?"_ I thought confusedly, before I turned my attention to the Underworld Trading Tutorial

 _[Welcome to the_ _ **Underworld Trading Network**_ _!]_

 _[Would you like a Tutorial?]_

" _Why yes, yes I would"_ I thought before hitting yes.

 _[To access the Underworld Trading Network, you require a Black Market Trading module keyed to your fingerprint integrated into the system._

 _Once the module is Integrated, you can buy and sell items on the network, as well as accept Jobs, using the module as an identifier._

 _On the network, you are completely anonymous, and thus, your Trading Module is of vital importance if you wish to perform any Underworld Missions and Trades, as it is the only thing that identifies you as a trusted member of the community.]_

Confused, I checked the inventory, and sure enough, in it, right next to my phone was an item labeled as the Black Market Trading Module.

" _So it looks like I met Kaguya…."_ I thought as I browsed through the Network.

My first order of business then, was to sell those books on the network, and maybe look into taking some jobs. And most importantly, get a weapon so I could start training.

After browsing for a few minutes, I sighed to myself as the same set of thoughts kept distracting me.

Namely, why on earth did I go through with getting rid of John's Pen in such a reckless manner.

I knew it would be risky. While I didn't know how John's Pen would react, I did expect it to be risky for Index. I couldn't see myself doing such a thing without a perfectly good reason, a reason that was absent.

" _Some piece of information is missing. And the only person who was there throughout yesterday's fiasco was Motoharu…"_ I thought.

He wasn't telling me something. A lot of things.

I scowled to myself.

" _Well, I best get on that quest then…_ " I thought, resolving to keep a close eye on Motoharu from now on

* * *

 **AN: Well, wasn't that fuuuun**

 **Guest: About Touma's stats...well, they haven't changed significantly from what I put up in chapter 4. He has gained a level and a grand total of maybe 4 stat points. He hasn't had the chance to train yet, you see. And why did you label yourself as Mr. X if you weren't. Confused the hell out of me.**

 **Mr. X (At least I am assuming you are): I hope you like how I have taken this. This was actually the idea from the beginning so...**

 **New Guest: There has to be memory loss, how can there not be any memory loss.**

 **A general note though. If you aren't able to figure exactly what Touma has lost, that is intentional. This is being told completely from his point of view, _and he doesn't know what he has lost._ Or at least, he hasn't realised yet. **

**Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter**

 **Later!**


	19. Arc 3: Weapons, Books and Apologies

I lay down on my bed with a frown.

The three of us had traveled in silence, all of us absorbed in our own thoughts. Me especially.

The more I thought about it, the more holes I found in my thought processes.

For example, I remember being panicked about something happening the day I met Index. I remember expecting Stiyl to come. I remember being relieved at coming across Mikoto.

But why did I expect it?

It was clear to me, based on what I could remember, that I had lost a lot more than just a day's worth of memories.

Thing was, it still confused me. I couldn't think of any possible way that I could have had the expectation that the fire wielding git would be coming that day. I didn't even know _how_ I knew he wielded fire, when I had apparently met him yesterday, and had no memories of it.

I apparently knew electronics. How? No clue. So many bits and pieces of knowledge that _should not be there_ were floating around.

All I knew was that it had something to do with my corrupted save files.

Worst part, I didn't think I could ask anyone. I didn't trust Motoharu, Mikoto knew nothing, and Index…I felt that she was fragile enough as it were.

My frown deepened. _"She probably needs professional help…."_ I thought.

It was clear that Index's year had been filled with horrifying experiences, and she needed to talk to someone about that. And about how her memory loss affected her. She seemed happy, but you never know what's lurking behind a happy façade.

I sighed. Such a thing was a dream at best though. There was no one she would trust enough to talk to.

" _Except me maybe…"_ came a stray thought.

I sighed once more, before dismissing the thought for the nonce. I had no idea how to go about getting Index to talk about herself, and thus turned my mind towards matters which I could affect right now.

Anyway, she seemed well enough watching anime for now.

Opening the Underworld Trading Network, I started browsing for some weapon I could use.

The entire thing was so _organized_. It blew my mind.

The first thing that caught my eye was the complete _lack_ of personal information. The accounts didn't even have aliases, they were just numbers. There wasn't even an option to add one to the account.

Another thing I noticed was an abundance of items on the market being sold by the same accounts. Going to the accounts in question told me that they were sellers and fences.

I wasn't sure what each book would sell for, something I had to do before I could buy anything. But apparently, there were fences willing to value goods for wither a small amount of money, or outright sell them for a percentage of the proceedings.

I frowned in confusion.

" _Such a system requires a_ monumental _amount of trust. It's like a bloody shadow government!_ "I thought.

For the moment, my only option was the fence given that I knew no one. Thankfully, the system made it easy for me to find one.

Navigating through the list of available fences (Man was that bizarre. It _shouldn't_ be so easy to find a fence for stolen goods), I ignored the small pang of guilt as I selected the one who seemed closest to my current location.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **On the Fence**_ _]_

 _[You have found a fence to market your ill-gotten gains. Deliver the goods to the fence within the next 24 hours and negotiate a favorable deal with him/her for their sale]_

 _[Reward: 500 EXP]_

I glanced at the clock, which was reading 23:30.

" _Tomorrow then…."_ I thought, before turning my attention back to the Network screen, casually browsing through the available weapons.

While weapons such as guns were _exceptionally_ expensive (Not surprising given the amount of control over it that the government exerted), they also formed the large majority of available weapons on the network. I had to go almost fifteen pages before I found a relevant entry pertaining to melee weapons. And it turned out to be some antique worth millions.

Searching for 'swords' specifically didn't help either. I was once again directed to stolen antiques I couldn't hope to buy.

It didn't help that the entire thing was in Japanese. While I _did_ have the Japanese language proficiency, I still wasn't used to typing in Japanese. I knew the words, and somehow could understand them, it was odd, given that the entire Gamer interface was in English.

" _Another unanswered question…. why am I so comfortable with English?"_ I thought briefly.

I frowned in frustration. _"Don't people sell swords over here?"_

While I knew next to nothing about swords, I knew even less about guns, and a sword was infinitely less dangerous than a gun. Besides, I could shoot armor piercing rounds from my fingers.

I glared at the search results for a few seconds. I looked at the search box again, and then smacked myself in the head.

" _Of course…. why am I searching for a sword'_ I thought, deleting the katakana I had typed in typing in 刀.

Lo and behold, the screen filled up with relevant results.

I grinned as I browsed through the long list of weapons available. _"Now this, I can work with_ " I thought with a grin.

* * *

The next day…. Was horrible.

Why you ask?

Because I had to go to school. And because I had missed so much, I got remedial homework. A lot of it.

Apparently, before my accident involving the goons pestering Mikoto, I had been abysmal at schoolwork. Which honestly baffled me. It really wasn't that hard. It was mind-numbingly boring though, given that I could solve it at a glance, but had to write out the answers.

I was thus grumbling to myself as I walked back home, One eye on the minimap and Index's icon. I had recreated the Party before the three of us had split up. Mikoto had given me another glare, before accepting the request and walking away in a huff. She hadn't replied to any of my messages either ( I really needed to talk to her). The moment we got back home, I walked Index through the Party chat system once more, and made her promise me that she would alert me if something happened. She wasn't proficient, not by a long shot, but she could send a message.

It had always made me nervous, leaving Index alone at home while I went to school. It had to be done, but it didn't help with the discomfort. And I had to go to the fence too.

I glared at the icon before grumbling to myself again.

Half an hour later, I found myself in front of a small pawn shop, which according to the Network, was the base of operations for my selected fence.

I pushed the door open and walked in, grimacing at the tinkling of the small bell which announced my entrance.

I looked around at the admittedly unimpressive room I found myself in. It consisted of a small display having some miscellaneous items, and a short, fat Indian man standing behind it.

"Welcome! My name is Srinivas! How may I help you?" The man said with in an accent so thick, I could barely understand the words.

In response, I held out the black tablet that I had taken out of inventory along with the books I had wanted to fence.

Srinivas' gaze sharpened. "The question still stands." He said.

I shrugged. "A bit of both actually" I said.

"Come on in then." He said, motioning for me to follow him into the back.

The back room seemed to be equally unimpressive.

"So, what's your business then?" He asked.

"Well, I have some books that I need to get rid of. "I said.

The man's face fell. "Academy City books?" He asked.

"Well….yes, but they are library copies" I said.

The man's gaze became panicked.

"Why did you bring them in here!?" He nearly shouted.

I snorted at his reaction. "Don't worry, they don't even know it has left the library. I checked." I said. I had no idea how, but the books were still listed as being on the shelves of the library I had nicked them from.

His gaze turned curious. "How on earth did you manage that?"

I just smirked at him, causing him to give me an amused look.

"Alright then, show me" he said.

I gave him the books with a small pang of regret. They still were skill books, and my gamer magpie instincts didn't like that I was selling them.

The man looked them over, and then gave me a look. "These seem legit. Nice haul." He said.

"How much will they sell for?" I asked curiously.

"This lot?" he said, looking them over with a critical eye. "Maybe twenty to twenty-five thousand yen each, after I have taken my commission, given the publication date of these things, and the fact that I can sell them outside the city."

"And how much is your commission?" I asked.

"Fifteen percent." He said.

I blinked. I had expected it to be more, though I didn't say it out loud.

"So, what did you want to buy?" he asked.

"I need a katana" I said.

"What for? As an antique, or something you intend to use?" He asked.

I shrugged. "I just need something to chop with" I said.

"Why did you come here then? You could have bought one online." He said.

I grimaced. "I don't exactly have the funds to buy one on to open market." I said.

"Ahhh…" he said, giving the books a look. "I am assuming you intend to use the proceeds from the sale of the books to buy your sword?"

I nodded.

He gave me a considering look.

"I will give you a sword immediately if you give me the books outright" he offered.

* * *

An hour later, I walked out of the shop, drained after an intense haggling session with the pawnbroker, with a guitar case slung across my back.

The Katana he had given me was crap, but it was all I would get from the man, and in my eyes, getting one for about a dozen books was a good trade. It wasn't too difficult for me to hit a library again, and those books weren't particularly rare _in_ Academy City.

Ducking into an alleyway, I dumped the katana into the inventory.

 _[You have added a_ _ **Weapon**_ _to the inventory!]_

 _[Would you like to make it a part of clothing set?]_

I grinned, making a new set that I named as 'Battle Ready'. The other slots had just normal clothes for now, but that would change once I got better armor and stuff.

I glanced at the clock, noting that it was just about to become six. Noting that Index was still at home, I made a decision.

" _Time to grind"_ I thought, before whispering "Create ID" even though I didn't have to.

Just like last time, everything living disappeared, and everything else just stopped moving.

Equipping the 'Battle Ready' set, I strode off in search of prey.

* * *

By the time I finished my little training session, the clock had ticked to read five past six. Since time didn't pass while I was in the Instant Dungeon, it was mighty convenient.

However, after the fifteenth dungeon, I got a notification saying that the area had been farmed out, and it would take a few days for the beasts to spawn again.

I didn't really care though because of the number of levels I had gained. I was now sitting pretty at level 10, a jump of four whole levels. On top of that, while I had had no need to use my katana, I did swing it around a bit, gaining a new passive for Katana wielding. Most of the damage however, was done using the EAPR spell.

The spell had gained seven levels in the session, along with another four on current for keeping it active the entire time I held the Katana. Create and Destroy ID had both reached level four, allowing me to create dungeons which apparently attract more powerful spirits at the cost of cleaning out an area faster.

On top of all this, my constant spell usage had caused me to gain three points of INT and another of WIS.

I had also gained levels on a lot of other skills, especially Coup de Grace and Sneak Attack, though the biggest gain was for EAPR.

On the whole, it was a very satisfying little session.

* * *

"Touma?" Index said as she peered over my shoulder while I cooked dinner.

"Yes?" I replied, most of my attention on what was cooking.

"Your right hand, it negates everything?" she asked.

"Yes?" I said, wondering where she was going with this.

She frowned. "How do you have any powers then?" she asked.

"As in?"

"The only power that fits in with what I have seen when you fought Stiyl is called Imagine Breaker. However, it's wielder should be incapable of wielding anything related to the supernatural." She said.

"Quite honestly, I don't know what I did when fighting Stiyl. I don't even remember Stiyl!" I said.

She scowled. "That's irrelevant anyway. What's important is that you shouldn't be having this…..'Gamer' power" she said.

I just shrugged in response. "I don't have any idea either" I said. "All I remember is waking up a few weeks ago with the Gamer's power." I said, before something that Index said registered in my mind.

"Wait, Imagine Breaker is mentioned in the Grimoires?!" I asked.

Index nodded. "Not in detail, just vague references. The only thing I can infer is that a power similar to yours has existed for a long time, and surfaces every couple of centuries or so"

" _Isn't that interesting…."_ I thought to myself.

* * *

That night, as I lay down on the bed, I sent Mikoto yet another message

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _How long are you going to ignore me?_

I sighed as once again no reply came through.

I frowned as I once again went over my behavior after I had woken up, trying to figure out just what I had done to piss her off.

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _I am sorry_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _: What for?_

I blinked at the immediate response I got, and then once again tried to think of just what I had done wrong.

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _I am waiting…_

I once again went over the entire thing with a fine-toothed comb, before something Index said towards the end stood out.

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _I am sorry for making you worry?_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _Is that a question or a statement_

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _Statement._

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _Didn't look like one._

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _*sigh*_

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _Look, I am sorry I made you worry. I don't even remember what happened, so I can't say whether I had an opportunity to inform you or not. I doubt I expected to get hurt badly enough to land up in a hospital. I mean, I have the Gamer's Body! I literally can't take permanent physical damage!_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _Doesn't change the fact that you ended up in a hospital, and I had to run around like a headless chicken trying to find you, since Index apparently cannot use a phone._

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _I really can't change what happened._

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _No, you can't_

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _…._

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _What can I do to assuage your anger?_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _…_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _Promise me that you will never go in alone?_

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _Ummm…._

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _Kamijou-Kun!_

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _I don't know what situations I will get into! I am not sure I can keep a promise like that!_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _…._

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _I am sorry._

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _….._

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _Tomorrow, we are going to spar._

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _And I am going to beat you halfway to hell_

I gulped at that.

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _Okay…._

" _Well, I will hopefully get a few points of VIT from a session from her….."_ I thought ruefully as I fell asleep.

* * *

 **AN: Well, well, well. So many unhappy faces with my decision to remove Touma's old memories.**

 **There were various reasons for that, one being that I don't actually remember much past the first season of Index (I liked the Railgun anime a _lot_ more), so his foreknowledge would have been pointless soon anyways, and also because...well, the SISTERs arc is next, and if my SI had any memories of it, he would do his best to stop it without involving Mikoto...which would, in my opinion, make for a stupid story. A lot of people disagree with me though.**

 **I don't know how this ceases to be an SI though. The inserted personality is not going to change, that there is still a version of me.**

 **Also, about the memories.**

 **Skills which were imported by** _ **The Traveler**_ **also caused all related information pertaining to it to come along, which is why he will remember most of what he learnt in school in his previous life (They were imported as Elemental Preferences). However, specific events will not be remembered by him**

 **P.S: I know that Deep Blood comes next. I honestly don't give two shits about the arc, and it has no real plot relevance anyway, and thus I am not going to have Touma involved in it. Let Himegami remain with her alchemist, idc.**

 **Now, onto review responses**

 **Guest: Bro. It's been a chapter. The MC is the bloody same. I doubt you will read this since you said you are dropping it, but its sad that you are.**

 **King Gilgamesh: Your review was interesting. He hadn't trained until this chapter because of two things. First, because, whether he admits it to himself or not, he almost shit his pants in fear, and really doesn't want to repeat the experience without adequate preparation. Also, like me, this SI Touma has time management issues, and is easily distracted (I happen to be ADHD). About his not using stat points, I have only two words to say to you: Diminishing Gains. Also, even without the Gamer, Touma is quite powerful. I mean, if you look at Boku no Hero Academia, Eraserhead has an eerily similar quirk to Imagine Breaker, and is bloody kickass.**

 **Now, since he gained four levels, we have a new stat sheet. I am not including the skill list though**

* * *

[Name: Touma Kamijou]

[Class: The Gamer]

[Titles: The Taveller (Lv MAX)

Electromaster(Lv 2)

The Strategist (Lv MAX)]

[Level 10]

[EXP: 990/500000]

[HP 280/280]

[MP 516/516]

[STR: 13]

[DEX: 11]

[VIT: 18]

[INT: 19(50.7)+]

[WIS: 15(42.9)+]

[CHA: 12 (28.6)+]

[LUK: 10(0)+]

[Points: 50]


	20. Arc 3: Gainful Employment

The next evening found me in an Illusion Barrier, trying to experiment with my abilities.

 _[Skill Creation Failed! You require Elemental Skill Upgrades Volume 4 and Control 8, and an INT score of 25 to unlock this skill!]_

I growled in frustration at the message. This was the fourth electricity-based skill I had tried to create and had failed miserably at. While INT was rarely a problem, my progress on the skill tree was.

I had four electricity-based skills right now: The EAPR, Current, Physical Hacking and Spark. The only one which had any use in battle was EAPR, and that was because it was almost purely mana, with a small charge added to it.

Thankfully, I was just a level away from unlocking the next upgrade. EAPR had reached Lv 13, and current was at 4, thus giving me total level of 19 including the two other skills that I had barely used.

However, leveling up…..was a problem.

The negative spirits got hunted out pretty damn quickly. Ten to fifteen goes through an Instant Dungeon cleared out all the spirit density in a kilometer radius from the point of creation of the dungeon. I had no clue when I would be able to hunt out an area again.

Once I got Create ID to level 5, my minimap changed to show the spirit density in the city. It was all in shades of red. Most of Academy city was a faint pink, except for a region towards the north which was a bright red, and a small area in the middle of district 7 which was a red so dark that I initially mistook it for black. The regions I hunted out showed up as stark white.

In the few hours I had had my new Katana, I had cleaned out three areas. While the first area netted me four levels, bringing me to ten, the next area gave only one level, and the third only about half. Those three took care of most of District 7, barring the dark spot I had studiously avoided. At the rate at which I was going, I would clear most of the city within a week….

" _On the bright side"_ I thought _"If I can get Mikoto into an Illusion Barrier, it would be epic for training. Especially for her. She will be able to go all out"_

A glanced at the clock, which told me I had about fifteen minutes before I had to leave to meet up with Mikoto. Not that it mattered inside the Illusion Barrier. It had been a while since I had cleared out this one, and I had been spending my time trying to create a new skill.

 _[Warning! Due to your extended presence within the Illusion Barrier after clearing out the area, you have attracted the attention of the Ward Keeper!]_

" _What?"_ I thought, bewildered. Upon scanning the minimap, I noticed a red dot on its edge, rapidly making its way towards me.

 _[Warning! Due to your extended presence within the Illusion Barrier after clearing out the area, You have gained the status effect_ _ **Out of Sync.**_ _Exit the Dungeon to remove this effect]_

 _[Due to the presence of a large amount of_ _ **Killing Intent**_ _, the skill_ _ **Preternatural Awareness**_ _has gained one level!]_

 _[_ _ **Preternatural Awareness**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Preternatural Awareness**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[Your Journal has been updated!]_

In the time it took me to read through the notifications, my HP had dropped by almost half.

Eyes widening, I immediately cast Destroy ID.

 _[Due to a large loss of HP in a small amount of time, your VIT has gone up by 1!]_

" _What the hell was that?!"_ I thought, noticing that in the couple of seconds it had taken to break the Barrier had cost me about another fourth of my HP.

" _That was way too close!"_ I thought as I scanned the minimap for hostiles as my HP slowly ticked back to full, dismissing the notifications.

Once I was satisfied that there was no immediate danger, I leaned against the wall of the alley I was in, and slowly sunk to the floor as the momentary adrenaline rush wore off.

" _What the actual fuck?!"_

In a normal world, I would have probably been a gibbering wreck for a few hours after that experience. However, once again, I felt the effects of Gamer's Mind dissociating me from the effects of the scare I had just been given.

My mind went to the last notification I had gotten before I left the Barrier.

Opening the Journal, I found a new entry under the Status Effects window.

 _[_ _ **Out of Sync**_ _: A status effect that is gained by spending too much time within an Illusion Barrier._

 _Effect: HP decrease at 10% of total HP per second as long as this effect is applied]_

" _Holy. Crap."_ I thought as I read through the summary of the new status effect. _"And what or who is the Ward Keeper?!"_

The Journal did not provide any more answers, and I found myself wondering just _what_ Illusion Barriers actually were. I doubted searching for them would yield any results.

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _Have you left yet?_

I blinked, broken out of my ruminations by Mikoto's text.

 _ **Kamijou Touma**_ _: Not yet. I was about to…._

 _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _: Yeah…..It would be better if you didn't come….._

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _What happened?_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _: I ran into Saten-san and Kuroko…._

 _ **Kamijou Touma**_ _: O…kay?_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _: Ugh! They don't know that I was out to meet you!_

 _ **Kamijou Touma**_ _: Oh. Ohhhhhh….._

 _ **Kamijou Touma**_ _: You do know that if you are more circumspect about our meetings, the more likely it is that it will be misinterpreted as date or something of the sort?_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _: Shut up!_

 _ **Kamijou Touma**_ _: C'mon! We could just play it off as a chance meeting!_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _: If it were only Saten-san? Yes. But Kuroko is very paranoid about me and meeting anybody of the opposite gender. Or the same gender for that matter._

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _*Facepalm*_

 _ **Kamijou Touma**_ _: Alright. We will meet up another time._

 _ **Misaka Mikoto**_ _: Oh yes, we will. I still have to beat the ever-living crap out of you. The fact that you can't take permanent physical damage makes it ever so convenient._

I gulped at the last message, before starting to make my way back to my dorm.

However, fate seemed to have other plans for me.

Someone suddenly linked their arms with mine, and said in a slightly breathless and incredibly familiar voice "Hey there, boyfriend."

The entire scene set of an intense sensation of déjà vu, and when I turned around, sure enough, Frenda had once again seen it fit to use me as an escape route.

"Let go of me!" I growled out. "I do _not_ have the time for this."

She gave me the most saccharine smile I had ever seen.

I rolled my eyes at her in response, before attempting to jerk my arm out of her grip.

"Just play along would you?" She hissed.

"And why on earth would I?" I hissed back. "I don't have any reason to!"

She seemed quite honestly stumped by that answer. However, before she could say anything, a fireball streaked past us, blowing up a cleaner bot behind us.

"Found you!" A voice said, causing Frenda to pale, and me to turn around in curiosity and mild irritation at the number of things happening at the same time.

Three guys, (Students by the looks of it), were glaring up a storm at us. A quick glance at their levels had me staring at Frenda in incredulity.

"Are these the guys chasing you?" I asked.

She nodded.

"You can't even take care of _that_ much?" I asked, pouring as much disdain into my voice as possible. The cumulative level of the three was lesser than Frenda's, the highest amongst them being just four levels above me.

Frenda's face reddened in anger, while the three guys gaped at my temerity.

"I don't have anything non-lethal to use on them and I am no hand to hand fighter" she growled.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **The Knight in Shining Armor]**_

 _[You have come across a maiden in need being chased by a trio of crooks with nefarious plans upon her virtue. Rescue said maiden from her unenviable situation and earn her favor!]_

 _[Reward: 20000 EXP, increased closeness to Frenda Seivelun, Quest continuation. Failure: Unexpected character deaths, Decreased Closeness to Frenda]_

I snorted at the overly dramatic phrasing of the quest.

I rolled my eyes at her. "You owe me." I said.

I turned to face thee leader of the trio of men (And apparently the one who threw the fireball, given that he was creating another).

"So, what can I do for you gentlemen?" I asked.

"Get out of our way" one of the three growled.

I rolled my eyes once more. "No can do. Anything else?"

The leader took a step forward in response.

Only for him to flinch back as there was a very loud bang, and a smoking hole in the ground between his feet.

"I am sure you know what a railgun is?" I asked casually.

"The Railgun is a girl, you can't bluff your way out of this!" said the guy on the left.

I rolled my eyes. "I never said that this was a railgun. A railgun is typically an artillery piece. The fact that Misaka Mikoto can generate enough power to accelerate something that much is pretty amazing. I can't generate that much power. No, what I have here is basically the equivalent of an armor piecing round. In other words, I am pretty much toting around a gun" I said.

I was bullshitting of course. I had basically fired an EAPR at him, and was trying to pass it of as a poor man's railgun so as to intimidate them into submitting.

Quite honestly, I wasn't sure I could get away without hurting them, but I at least had to try.

These men, however, seemed to be particularly dim, and didn't know of the age-old adage of 'Don't bring a knife to a gunfight'.

The two of them, barring the leader, brought out small knives, and charged the thirty or so meters separating us.

More than enough time for me to get three shots in with the EAPR.

Aiming for their feet, I fired, intentionally keeping my palm open instead of making the little finger gun I usually used. It helped a lot that they didn't have any recoil, and weren't actually affected by gravity like a normal round.

There were three bangs close enough to sound like one, and then three people clutching their legs, moaning in pain.

 _[Quest_ _ **The Knight in Shining Armor**_ _Complete!]_

 _[You have gained 20000 EXP]_

 _[Your closeness to Frend Seivelun has increased!]_

 _[Your relationship with Frenda Seivelun has been upgraded to Close Acquaintance!]_

I looked at the trio, not knowing what to do next. _"Do I bind their wounds, or do I call the emergency services?_ " I thought dispassionately. They hadn't been hit in any vital part, and didn't seem to be in any danger of bleeding out.

"That was an interesting move there. What do you use as ammunition? I didn't see any." Frenda asked from behind me.

I sighed. "Ball bearings. They are small enough that they don't cause too much damage and go straight through without lodging anywhere" I bluffed.

"Hmm… I could have done the same if I had had my gun today. However, all I had were my grenades." She said.

I gave her an incredulous look.

"Why would you be toting around grenades?" I asked.

She shrugged in response. "They comfort me." She said, causing me to gape at her, much to her amusement.

"So, what do we do with them?" I asked, motioning towards the three moaning men.

In response, Frenda brought out a familiar looking tablet.

"We alert the appropriate authorities." She said.

"The Underworld Trading Network has an option for treatment outside the general emergency services?" I asked incredulously.

Frenda cocked an eyebrow at me. "Yes, it does. The Ragni does good work keeping it in line and making sure that suspicious injuries don't reach the law's eyes." She said.

I hummed thoughtfully at that while Frenda fiddled around with the tablet.

A few seconds later, she slipped it back into her pocket, and then said "Well, as delightful as this little episode was, we have to split before the Ragni's men come. Plausible deniability and all."

I nodded in response. "Just one thing." I said.

Frenda tilted her head towards mine in curiosity.

"You do jobs on the network?" I asked.

She nodded. "Mostly courier jobs" she said.

" _Perfect"_ I thought. "Well then, I would like to cash in that favor."

"Oh?" she said, an amused smirk forming on her face. "An anonymous letter to deliver to a sweetheart perhaps?" she asked.

I rolled my eyes at her. "No, I want to take jobs on the network, but it says that I can't unless I have completed at least five jobs with a certified member or have been vouched for as viable for the job by the system administrator." I said.

"And you want me to be that person?" she asked, giving me an evaluating look.

I nodded in response.

She continued to look at me evaluatingly, before giving me a short nod.

"Sure, why not?" she said, before taking out her tablet. "Give me your Network Contact details"

Nodding, I rattled off the string of numbers and letters that formed the account number.

She cocked an eyebrow at me. "You have all of that memorized?" she asked.

I didn't. I had just read it off the screen. I wasn't going to tell her that of course, so I just nodded.

"Alright then. I will contact you when I take up the next job." She said, turning around to leave.

 _[You have completed a Hidden Quest!]_

 _[You gain 15000 EXP!]_

I blinked at the notification, before shaking my head in bemusement.

Sighing, I turned around and made my way back to the dorm.

* * *

I felt a small twinge of guilt as I closed the chat window. _"It's just a small lie. Harmless really"_ I thought to myself.

Shaking my head of those errant thoughts, I gazed at the structure in front of me, the reason why I was cancelling the little pummeling session Kamijou-kun had earned.

" _Time to find out the truth of those rumors and Nunotaba-san's words"_ I thought, as my made my way into the almost abandoned facility to which I had once given a sample of my DNA to work with.

* * *

 **AN: Dun Dun Duuuuuuun. Hope the POV change wasn't too confusing**

 **Well, we are set up for the next arc.**

 **I have to say, you guys are amazing. Upon upload, this story has 250 follows, and 175 favs, putting it on page 1 when arranged by number of followers this story has.**

 **so, Thank you!**

 **Also, to those of you saying that the Depp Blood Arc is important. Whether it is or not is actually irrelevant. In this little universe I am building, Stiyl and Kaori do not know of Touma's abilities. the only ones who know of IB are Mikoto, Motoharu and Index. So Touma won't be recruited to save Himegami anyway. Sure, I could contrive a set of circumstances where he ends up rescuing Himegami anyway, but frankly, I don't really care much about it. The Index franchise already has too many characters whom we don't see enough of, and to top it all, I have gone and added OCs. Sigh.**

 **I know the chapter is short, but it is a good stopping point.**

 **Guest: The reason I removed the meta knowledge is that in my experience, too much of it ruins a story. Also, what else could I remove? Sure, I could reset to zero, but I was in no mood to rewrite an entry into the world chapter again. In my eyes, an SI without meta knowledge is still an SI.**


	21. Arc 3: Duel, Part 2

A balmy Saturday afternoon a few days after the incident with Frenda found me and Index enjoying some ice cream on a park bench while we waited for Mikoto to turn up for the meeting she had canceled. The one where I was supposed to have my ass handed to me.

Thus, while Index was happily slurping at her cold treat, mine was slowly melting away while tried to think of a way to once again defeat Mikoto.

" _Well, I have Imagine Breaker, and that is my trump card. But I doubt she will let me get close enough to do that once more. Damn, I wish I hadn't revealed that to her….."_ I thought. I had developed a couple of new skills, but I wasn't sure how useful they would be. I also had the thick wooden practice sword that I had got to practice my almost non-existent sword wielding skills, which I had planned to use instead of my katana.

A few minutes later, just as I dismissed another redundant notification telling me Contemplate had leveled once more, Mikoto came in running, a can of soda in her hand, slightly out of breath.

I sighed in exasperation. "Must you abuse that machine every time you go past it?" I asked.

She just rolled her eyes at me, and popped the lid of the can, sitting down heavily on the seat next to me.

"What machine?" Index asked curiously as she popped the last bit of the ice cream cone into her mouth. "Your ice cream is melting Touma" she added, motioning to the small puddle of melted ice cream that had formed between my feet.

I cursed, causing Mikoto to let out a bark of startled laughter and Index to tut disapprovingly.

For a few seconds, silence reined while I cleaned of my fingers using a tissue. While I was doing this, Mikoto was drinking her soda in huge gulps, and was done at the same time as I was.

Predictably, she let out a huge belch, which caused both me and Index look at her in askance and her to blush in embarrassment.

"What's the hurry?" I asked.

"We get to fight again! I need to exact revenge over you for my previous loss!" she said, getting up from the bench.

"Wasn't this supposed to be my apology?" I asked bemusedly.

"Yeah, yeah, that too" she said, waving me off dismissively as she started to walk in the direction of what I presumed would be our arena.

I snorted in amusement at her eagerness. _"Boy is she rearing for a fight_ " I thought.

* * *

A bus ride later found us on the riverbank, with Index spectating from a safe distance.

"So this is another one of the spots you cleared of cameras?" I asked, noting the poor condition of the general area.

Mikoto nodded in response.

"So, fight till one yields?" Mikoto asked, still grinning widely.

I snorted. "Yeah, how about no?" I said.

"Eh?"

I rolled my eyes. "You are so far above me that if you chose to, you would smash me like a bug" I said.

"Well….maybe not like a bug. I do like you the way you are…" she said thoughtfully.

I rolled my eyes once more. "Stop contemplating how to smash me." I snarked, causing her to smirk in amusement.

"So, what do you want as the rules?" she asked.

"Hmmm….. for you, getting my HP to ten percent, and for me, if I get my right hand on you. If I do that, you have lost anyway…" I suggested.

"Sure, that works" she said with a cocky smirk. "Are you ready then?"

 _[You have received a_ _ **Duel Request**_ _from Misaka Mikoto! Would you like to accept?]_

I blinked at the notification.

"Huh, that's neat" Mikoto said.

"What is?" I asked, confused.

"Duel request" she said, motioning vaguely to where I assumed her little HUD interface would be.

Curious, I hit the accept button.

 _[You have accepted the_ _ **Duel Request**_ _!]_

 _[Bring your opponent's HP to below 10% of its total or force them to yield!]_

 _[The duel will begin in fifteen seconds!]_

I grinned. "Are you ready then?" I asked, drawing the wooden practice sword from the inventory.

She just smirked.

 _[5]_

 _[4]_

 _[3]_

 _[2]_

 _[1]_

 _[_ _ **BEGIN!**_ _]_

The moment the gong went off, I jumped backward. Just in time too, because Mikoto's foot came rocketing past the point where my face had been moments ago.

" _Holy crap that was fast!"_ I thought as I activated the first skill that I had developed.

 _[_ _ **Current Sense**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): A skill that allows you to pick up large concentrations and flows of charge. All flows of charge or Potential differences in a radius of 50m show up on the minimap._

 _Minimum Value of Current: 50A_

 _Minimum Value of Voltage: 500V_

 _Cost: 50MP/min]_

When I had tried it the first time, it had shown me only the surrounding power lines, both overhead and underground. Now, along with the powerlines, I could see there were weird…..balls of power under the ground?

" _What on earth?"_ I thought, before I was distracted by a bolt of lightning.

I automatically lifted my hand to nullify the bolt, standing my ground.

"Do you even know how to use that?" Mikoto asked, pointing at the wooden sword in my left hand.

"Not a clue" I said, before charging, swinging at her head.

Mikoto's icon in the map suddenly flared, and she _flew_ backwards, causing my sword to swing through empty air and lose my balance.

I flailed for a second before regaining my balance. Surprisingly, Nothing happened while I was completely open, so I looked up to see Mikoto…..much farther away than I expected her to be.

"Running away?" I called, eyebrow raised.

Her face went red in what I assumed was a mixture of anger and embarrassment. "I miscalculated" she growled.

For a couple of seconds, both of stared at each other, neither willing to make the first move.

She then knelt to the ground, putting her palm against it.

" _Oh shit!"_ I thought, before charging at her. If she managed to get enough sand out of the ground to craft a sword, things would become exponentially more difficult.

Not that it was going to be easy anyway….

When I had reached the halfway point, she looked up, and then grinned at me.

I faltered, unsure.

One of the balls of energy that I had been seeing below the ground suddenly dimmed, while another on the opposite side of me started to brighten.

" _What on…"_ I started to think.

Before I could even complete the thought, the ground beneath me flashed, and a huge shock traveled through my body, arcs of lightning making their way from the ground to me.

 _[_ _ **Warning!**_ _HP Critical!]_

 _[You have lost the duel!]_

 _[You have gained 5000 EXP!]_

 _[_ _ **Current Sense**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **Shock Resistance**_ _has gone up by 1]_

 _[_ _ **Shock Resistance**_ _has gone up by 1]_

 _[_ _ **Shock Resistance**_ _has gone up by 1]_

 _[Due to a rapid drop in HP, your VIT has gone up by 1!]_

I grimaced at that.

Unlike last time, I hadn't been able to even _touch_ her.

It showed just how much she had been underestimating me last time.

I glared at her, then noticed she was staring at me with her mouth agape.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"How are you even standing?!" she asked incredulously.

I gave her an unimpressed look.

"Gamer's Body, remember?" I said. "I am almost dead, just so you know, I have about five percent of my total HP left."

She just gave me a flat stare.

"Your power is the most bullshit power I have seen, and that is saying something in a city filled with espers" she said.

I chuckled at that.

* * *

Once Mikoto found out that it would take about an hour for my HP to tick back up to full after the licking it had been given, she decided that the rest of my punishment would have to wait, completely ignoring my indignant protests claiming that this once was enough.

However, what we ended up doing after…..was equally torturous, for different reasons though.

"Misaka-san" I said.

"Yes?" she replied absently.

"How many times are you going to do this?" I asked.

"Until I get a Gekota badge" she replied.

I palmed my face as she turned the knob once more, while Index sighed in exasperation

" _Okay, I am done_ " I thought.

Using my right hand, grabbed her by the shoulder, and dragged her away from the small contraption.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted, making a desperate grab for the ball that had fallen out of the machine.

I glowered at her.

"We have been doing this for an hour. For an _entire_ hour. You have spent five thousand yen already!" I said.

"B…But…Gekota…" she said.

I rolled my eyes.

"We have almost two hundred badges here. What on earth are you going to do with them?!" I asked.

She gave me a look that would have probably caused me to melt any other time, but just fed into my exasperation with her.

It didn't help that I had fallen for it three times already.

"Index is hungry, and so am I. So, we are going to have a snack, and you are joining us" I said, forcefully dragging her away from the machine.

"Waiiiiiit! Let me at least take the one that rolled out just now!" she said.

I gave her a look. "You. Have. Two. Hundred. Badges." I said.

"But this one could be it!" she said.

I ran my palm down my face.

"Get on with it" I sighed.

* * *

Mikoto refused to leave till she got her badge, which led to a very cranky and hungry Index.

The fifteen-minute walk to the diner took place in complete, awkward silence for me, with Mikoto enraptured with her new badge and not noticing the lack of conversation, and Index childishly ignoring me for going along with Mikoto's madness.

" _What's so special about the damn frog.."_ I grumbled to myself. I had flatly refused to carry the bags of badges around, so we had left it next to the machine for the next person to pick up.

 _[You have a new message on the_ _ **Underworld Trading Network**_ _!]_

" _Hmmmm?"_ I thought as I navigated to the Trading Network inbox.

 _[_ _ **From**_ _: ID697789_

 _ **To**_ _:ID446709_

 _ **Sub**_ _: Job_

 _The link to accept the job is below. Read up and meet me at 9:30. The location is attached as a separate link which should show up on the tablet's map._

 _Link:_ _ID778965-JID9935664_

 _Location: Maploc99-33]_

" _Huh. She actually held up her end of the deal and contacted me…._ " I thought. I hadn't honestly thought that she would honor it. In retrospect, I had left the commitment far too open ended for someone who (supposedly) didn't know her name or of any way to contact her.

" _Maybe she plans to take advantage of me."_ I thought, and then snorted at how the phrasing had come out in my head.

I clicked on the link leading to job description, causing a new quest to be generated

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Adventure Time!]**_

 _[You have been invited along for a seemingly mundane quest along with a beautiful maiden. For the first part of the quest, rendezvous with said maiden without catching any inappropriate attention at the given time, and successfully complete the quest with her. ]_

 _[Reward: 20000 EXP, increased closeness to Frenda Seivelun, Quest continuation. Failure: Unexpected character deaths, Decreased Closeness to Frenda]_

I rolled my eyes at the quest before accepting and dismissing it, and proceeding to read through the job description.

" _Hmmmm… Just a drop-off eh?"_ I thought as I read through the description Frenda had sent.

My ruminations were interrupted by a finger snapping in front of my face. It didn't help that the said fingers sparked as they snapped, causing me to a point of HP through AOE damage.

"What?" I snapped.

"What are you doing? Go….." Mikoto said before breaking off and staring into the distance.

"Misaka-san?" I asked, tapping her shoulder." What happened?"

She started at my voice, and then said, "Nothing. Just got lost in thought for a second."

I raised an eyebrow at her. " You got lost in thought mid-sentence?" I asked dubiously.

She blushed and sputtered a bit, causing me to roll my eyes fondly at her.

"Don't roll your eyes at me!" she shouted, blush brightening.

I just laughed. It was just too easy to get her all hot and bothered.

* * *

Later that evening found me staring at a mask that I had found in some gift shop earlier that day and made Mikoto buy for me in a fit of paranoia about me being identified. Index had been put to bed, and I was reasonably sure that Motoharu had an eye on her anyway, so I donned my mask and slipped out of my room to meetup with Frenda at the location provided to me.

 _[_ _ **Warning!**_ _You are out past curfew, and are thus labeled as "To be investigated" by the City Automated Security Systems!]_

 _[You have a new notification from the_ _ **Underworld Trading Network**_ _]_

Blinking, I opened the UTN inbox, an saw that I had a new mail.

 _[_ _ **From**_ _: Automated System Admin_

 _ **To**_ _: ID446709_

 _ **Sub**_ _: Night Mode_

 _-This is an automated system generated message. Please do not reply to the sender-_

 _As it is past curfew, the UTN would like to remind you to engage night mode on your UTN module before proceeding about your business so as to prevent attracting unnecessary attention. Night Mode shows your status as "Adult" and "No Threat" to all automated security systems in Academy City, thus allowing you to roam freely in all generally accessible areas.]_

" _Well isn't that incredibly convenient…"_ I thought as I went to the UTN menu, to see that Night Mode had been highlighted for my convenience.

I kept the mask on though. It didn't hurt to be overcautious.

* * *

Half an hour later found me at the rendezvous point, a small park close to the border of district 9.

A few minutes later, Frenda walked upto my bench and sat down.

For a couple of minutes, we sat in silence while I waited for Frenda to tell me what we were going to do next. However, she seemed content to just look up into the sky, waiting for god knows what.

"What are we waiting for?" I snapped, losing patience.

Frenda started, and then looked at me.

"Are you talking to me?" She asked, bewildered.

It was at this point that I remembered that I was wearing a mask.

Mentally facepalming at my idiocy, I said, "It's me. You know, your two time rescuer"

She gave me a weird look.

"What's with the mask?" She asked.

"Doesn't hurt to be over-cautious" I said.

She gave me an exasperated look, and then got off the bench.

"Let's get going then" she said, leaving me to scramble along behind her.

Just as we reached the edge of the park, there was the muffled sound of heavy clanking, like something had just collapsed.

"What was that?" I asked nervously.

"The cargo loading bays for the external railway system are pretty close. Somebody must have dropped a container" Frenda answered with a shrug.

"At this time?" I asked, eyebrow cocked.

"Academy City never sleeps" she replied.

* * *

" _This cannot be happening"_ I thought as I looked upon the scene in front of me, refusing to believe that my naivete so many years ago had led to something like this. Something so twisted.

The cargo container dropped, and below the deafening clang, I could hear the sickening squelch of flesh being pulped.

I snapped.

Screaming incoherently, I charged at the albino kid, the sick, twisted excuse for a human who looked _bored_ while killing her sister.

* * *

 **Well well well. Hasn't it been a while.**

 **The first 2k words of this chapter have been sitting on my laptop for the past 4 months, while I kept getting stuck on the last 600 or so. Most frustrating.**

 **Guest (The most recent one): The harem is mostly a joke. Worry not, he will end up with someone. singular. I don't know who yet though, that will keep evolving.**


	22. Arc 3: First Job

_[Quest_ _ **Adventure Time**_ _Complete!]_

 _[You have gained 20000 EXP]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Training Wheels (Part 1)**_ _]_

 _[Having successfully rendezvoused with Frenda, accompany her to the client's location for your first Underworld job!_

 _Rewards: 5000 EXP]_

"So how does this work?" I asked as we walked, Frenda leading the way.

"We pick up the package from the customer and we drop it at a designated spot or hand it over to another member of the Trade Network as per instructions" She replied.

"Is that it?" I asked.

Frenda cocked an eyebrow at me. "What were you expecting"

I shrugged. "I don't know….more skulking around maybe? Not just what is basically a long walk with a package"

Frenda snorted. "Of course you have more difficult and complicated jobs around. You have to be vetted for jobs like that by people who are more experienced." She said

"What types of jobs?" I asked interestedly.

She gave me a glance. "Nothing that a teenage student should be getting into. In fact, as a member of the Power Curriculum, you don't have much of a chance of getting into more…let's say, shady stuff" she replied.

My eyebrows rose at that. "What, the UTN doesn't use espers?"

She snorted. "Of course they do. But anyone with half a brain can see the level of surveillance that children who are part of the Power Curriculum are subjected to in the name of science. It would be beyond stupid to allow them to work with anything sensitive. In fact, I believe that the Network exists because the higher-ups are either bribed or tacitly approve of its existence" she said.

My eyebrows shot up further at that.

She gave me another look, and said, "Don't look so surprised. This city has an average age of _thirteen_. Why do you think that the first response system is manned by children? They do not have enough adults in the city to contain so many powerful children, so they make up for that by keeping an eye on every aspect of their lives, and by keeping the most powerful espers enrolled in the more posh schools. The city has _far_ less control over us than they like to project. Thus, the higher your rating on the Power Curriculum, the more you are under their eye. The lower dregs just get ignored, so an organized crime syndicate is a _good_ thing in this city. Else this place would have needed military intervention years ago."

Frenda's words resonated with a lot of small things I had observed about the city. For example, while Mikoto had a warden who checked in with her every day, As far as I knew, my apartment did not have any keeper or warden, or if it did, he or she was supremely unconcerned with what the students are doing. It was rather alarming, but at the same time, I has a feeling that trying to raise a ruckus about it was not going to end well.

She gave out a tired sigh upon seeing me frown in contemplation "What I am trying to say is, the UTN is vital to keeping the peace in the city, which is why it is mostly tolerated by the City Administration. In fact, I am quite sure they themselves use it to do some of their more clandestine work. Don't get too worked up about it, it's way above your head. Stick to the courier jobs like these and you will be fine." She said.

"How did they get so powerful though?" I asked.

"Who? The UTN?" She asked, confused.

"Not them, the City Administration. If it were so bad…. The government would have shut it down right?" I asked.

Frenda gave me an incredulous look. "Academy City is a _de facto_ city state. It is only nominally a part of the nation of Japan. Even though it gets almost ten percent of Japan's budget, the government has no overview over it. The gadgets, discoveries, and most of all, the espers that Academy City supplies to JSSDF are judged to outweigh any potential drawbacks that having so much independence may have." She said.

We walked in silence after that while I tried to digest the implications of the information that Frenda had just passed on. It was starting to feel more and more that I was in over my head, and I had no clue what to do about it, and my quests were not giving me any hints.

* * *

"We are here" Frenda said, breaking me out of my circling thoughts.

We had stopped in front of one of the many student apartments in the District. I looked about, and then asked the obvious question.

"How are we supposed to identify the client?"

In response, Frenda brought out her tablet, and navigated to the job list, and hit a button next to the current job.

"What's that?" I asked, curious.

"It signals the client" she said.

"Why don't I have the option to signal the client?" I asked, looking at the small bell icon which was markedly absent from my job list.

"Because you are still a trainee. Once you have successfully completed five jobs, you can take your own missions in the same category" she said.

Any further conversation was cut off by a girl coming down the stairs.

Behind my mask, my eyes widened as Uiharu Kazari came to a stop in front of us, and casually whipped out an Underworld Trading Module.

"Are you my couriers for tonight?" she asked, giving me a curious look. She didn't comment on the mask though.

 _[Quest_ _ **Training Wheels (Part 1)**_ _has been completed]_

 _[You have gained 5000 EXP]_

 _[A quest has been updated!]_

 _[_ _ **Training Wheels (Part 2)**_ _]_

 _[Having successfully met with the client, safely deliver the client's package to the drop point_

 _Rewards: 10000EXP, 2000_ _UTN credits_ _, Increased reputation on the UTN]_

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Flawed Judgement**_ _]_

 _[Through a weird coincidence, you have found out that Uiharu Kazari is a member of the UTN. Find out her role within the network, and her reasons for being a member without raising her suspicions._

 _Rewards: 150000 EXP, quest continuation]_

While I frowned at the vaguely worded quest, Frenda nodded at Uiharu and held out her hand

Uiharu played around a bit with her tablet, and handed it over to Frenda, while I looked on in mild confusion.

Giving me a sideways glance, Frenda handed her own tabket to Uiharu, and they both pressed their fingers to the scanner on the back of the respective tablets.

" _Ahh, the verification process.."_ I thought, remebering

Frenda then handed the tablet to me, and then turned to Uiharu while I put my finger to the scanner.

"So, what's the package?" Frenda asked.

In response, Uiharu handed over a nondescript package wrapped in brown paper.

"This has to be delivered to the Mos Espa Coffee House. The location is marked on the map now that you have verified your identity" Uiharu said.

"Alright then" Frenda replied, and then turned away. "Move it, rookie" she shot at me, leaving me to give an awkward wave and follow behind her.

* * *

Later that night found me quietly making my way into my room so as to not wake up Index. The delivery was uneventful, though it paid well for what was essentially a long walk. And the rewards promised to get better, according to Frenda, I was getting 25% of the total amount paid because I was a trainee.

However, even though it paid relatively well, I needed to do better if I wanted to be able to get my money out of the network and into the open.

I sighed as I plopped down onto the bed. There were so many things happening and I had no idea how to deal with them all.

Firstly there were the people who had been chasing Index when I found her. I still had no clue who they were, only that they weren't Christian according to Motoharu, and that was apparently rare.

Then there was the city. There were so many things wrong with it that I didn't even know where to start. Child police, almost no adult supervision…. That there weren't any teen pregnancies was a wonder.

And then there was my foray into the Underworld Trading Network.

I knew I had gone there for a reason. While meeting Frenda was a coincidence, what followed _wasn't_. For some reason, I had chosen to make myself known to the underbelly on Academy City, seized the opportunity to do so, when I normally wouldn't.

I had a feeling that it had to do with those memories I seem to have lost. And with my inexplicable knowledge of university level math and physics.

For some reason I had thought that it was vitally important for me to have connections to the underworld and a lot of money, so much so, that I had continued to do so even though didn't remember why anymore.

 _[_ _ **Legendary Quest Discovered!**_ _]_

 _[_ _ **The Monster Within**_ _]_

 _[Through careful observation, you have observed discrepancies in the path you are currently following and the path you would have taken given the knowledge that you currently possess. Get back on the path by recovering the knowledge locked within your mind._

 _Rewards: Recovery of Save File 1, Recovery of Save File 2, Increased Closeness with ?, 150000000 EXP]_

" _What the…?"_ I thought as I gaped at the screen. I hadn't thought the save files recoverable.

The quest, however, gave no hints as to _what_ exactly I was to do start the process of regaining my memories.

Is that why I couldn't delete the corrupted save files?

" _But it's not like I could repair the either…."_ I thought.

My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of my phone through the inventory.

I frowned at the unknown number that the caller ID was showing, and picked up the call.

"Hello?" I said.

"Kamijou-san?" Came a vaguely familiar voice across the phone.

"Yes? Who is this?" I asked.

"Shirai Kuroko. Is Onee-Sama with you?" She asked.

"What? At this time? Most definitely not! And how did you get my number?!" I asked.

"There are no secrets between me and Onee-Sama" came the bold reply.

I sighed. I somehow doubted that Mikoto had given her the number of her own freewill.

"What do you want?" I asked tiredly.

"Well….Onee-sama has still not returned to her dorms, and while I have covered for her with the Dorm Mistress, it's rather worrying.." she said, worry tinging her tone.

" _She hasn't returned yet?"_ I thought, while turning my attention to my minimap, searching for her icon in it.

Sure enough, she was on the outer reaches of district 7, nowhere near her dorm.

"Have you tried calling her?" I asked as I opened up the party chat.

"She isn't picking up." Kuroko said.

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _What are you doing?!_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _What?_

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _Kuroko just called me saying you aren't at the dorm. Why are you at the edge of district 7 instead of your dorm?_

 _ **Misaka Mikoto:**_ _How do you know where I am?!_

 _ **Kamijou Touma:**_ _Party leader. I can see all the party members locations. What happened?_

For a few minutes, there was no response. Just as I was preparing to call her and force her to answer, I got a new message.

 _ **Misaka Mikoto has left the party**_

I blinked in surprise at the reaction.

"KAMIJOU-SAN!" Kuroko screamed into my ear.

Wincing at the volume, I said, "I will get back to you, Let me try calling her."

"Wai-" Kuroko started to say before she was cut-off, and I started to call Mikoto.

* * *

The phone beside me rang, it's bell like tone grating upon my already frayed nerves.

" _I ought to pick that up_ "

But I knew that I was in no state to actually talk to him. I needed to think of a viable reason for my sudden departure from the party, the party that was created off the people who were in the know about Kamijou-san's power.

Instead, I let the ring cut off. I needed to think of a reason to brush him off.

So that I could solve the mess my naiveté had caused. To make up for the blood on my hands, whether I did it on purpose or not.

The phone rang again, this time the tone of a frog, indicating a message had come through.

 **Kamijou Touma:** What happened? I can't send many messages like this, I have only a limited amount of money on this number! At least call Kuroko, she is worried out of her mind!

" _Ah…Kuroko too huh…"_ I thought bitterly. Another friend whom I don't really deserve.

I shot off a message to Kamijou-san, and allowed the phone to slide through my fingers, and curled up upon myself, trying to figure out a way to fix this mess.

Sometime later, I noted the sound of footsteps moving towards me. I looked up, and vaguely noted that it was now morning.

"It been a while, hmm?" Nunotaba Shinobu said, looking down at me, her expression blank as it always was.

* * *

 **Misaka Mikoto:** Don't worry, I just missed the last bus, and got a bit tired of walking around. And I quit the party because the fact that you can spy on me sorta creeped me out. I will return to the dorm soon.

I tried to send another message, but got a notification telling me that my account balance was too low to send outgoing messages.

I gave a small growl of frustration, and then tried calling again.

Five failed tries later, I informed Kuroko about Misaka's reply, and then stared at the phone in frustration.

" _Well, it could be that my spying on her did actually creep her out"_ I thought, amused by how shy she could be at times.

I shrugged, and figured that I could clear it up somewhere next morning, and went to sleep.

* * *

The next morning, I was greeted by an update.

 _[_ _ **The Gamer- V1.04**_ _]_

 _[ 1. The Gamer's Mind has been modified to have both_ _ **Active**_ _and_ _ **Passive**_ _elements._

 _ **The Gamers Mind**_ _(Lv MAX) (Active/Passive):_

 _ **Passive Effect**_ _: The player's mind is insulated from all outside influences and Psychological Attack_

 _ **Active Effect**_ _: Allows for the suppression of emotional responses, giving the player the ability to think clearly and rationally in all situations_

 _2\. You can now see you reputation on the UTN! As your reputation grows, the higher the probability that a job you apply for will be accepted]_

" _Now that is quite interesting…."_ I thought as I looked at the new bar below my EXP, detailing me as a level one member of the UTN.

I glanced at the clock, and decided that it was late enough that I could call Misaka and confirm just what had happened yesterday.

The call was picked up on the third ring.

"So are you going to tell me what yesterday was all about?" I asked as soon as the call connected, skipping all the greetings.

There was a pause before she replied.

" _You can spy on me everywhere when I am in party."_ She said.

"Okay….Your point?" I asked.

" _That's…Ugh! You can't just spy on a girl like that! It's not right!"_ she replied, obviously flustered.

I just rolled my eyes, though she couldn't see them.

"It's just a marker on a map" I said exasperatedly.

" _That doesn't matter! It's just wrong!"_ She nearly screamed.

"Are you going to tell just why you were sitting around somewhere approximately four hours after the busses stopped running? Or are you going to keep deflecting?" I asked, cutting to the chase.

There was another pause.

" _The dorm can be stifling at times, so I just took a walk. Kuroko usually covers for me."_ She replied.

"Yeah, but I am assuming you aren't usually that late. Or else Kuroko wouldn't have panicked and called me" I said.

" _Speaking of which, when did you give Kuroko your number?"_ She asked.

"I didn't. Apparently, there are no secrets between the two of you" I said, bemused.

A growl came across the line. _"Oh I am going to wring that perv's neck…"_

I chuckled in response. "What time did you end up reaching the dorm? And why didn't you pick up the calls after?"

" _Eh, about half an hour after you called the first time. It's difficult to take calls when I am travelling."_ She replied.

"Why is it difficult to take calls when walking?" I asked, confused.

" _Who said that I was walking?"_ she replied, amusement tinging her tone.

"You are going to have to clarify that later" I said, mock glaring at the screen.

There was an amused chuckle.

" _I have to go now. I will talk to you later. And get a message pack at least, it's easier that way."_ She said.

"You were the one who quit the party, the party with a messaging application" I said.

" _And it's going to stay that way."_ She said, voice stern. _"The thought of someone tracking my location like that all the time makes me shudder"_

"Riiiiggght" I said. "Anyway, I need to get ready for school, so I will talk to you later?" I said

" _You can bet on it!"_ she said. " _See you!"_

"Bye" I said, and cut the call.

"So are you done flirting? Can you now make us breakfast?" came a voice from above me.

I rolled my eyes.

"Do you even know what flirting is, or did you just pick that word up from a dictionary somewhere?" I asked.

From the embarrassed silence, I guessed the latter.

I sighed, and rolled out of the futon. "Yeah, yeah, I will get on it"

* * *

 **It has been a while, hasn't it?**

 **Major case of writer's block, though it is more or less resolved now. Thanks to darkbetrayer and the rest of the guys on the discord server for helping with that.**

 **Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this. Leave a review!**


	23. Arc 3: Calling Wolf

**Trigger warning. This chapter has a rather disturbing description at the end. Dont think I did it justice, but still.**

* * *

That evening found me at one of the parks that littered Academy City, working up the nerve to open up an Illusion Barrier once more.

It was now mid-August, a full two weeks since my last foray into the Illusion realm, and the negativity had built back up to normal levels. I had no real excuse to not create one. In fact, I really needed to since that was the only way I could grind skills, and create new ones. I was still stuck at halfway through level 11, with only a few completed quests making a tiny dent in what was needed for the next level.

I did grind a couple of points of INT at school though.

While I was constantly grinding things like Current, Current Sense and Spark (which were now sitting at levels 12, 8 and 7 respectively) when I had the time (and privacy), I needed to grind my more offensive skills, like EAPR and my Sword Proficiency.

Grinding up the weaker skills had helped though, I had unlocked another upgrade, and went up a level. I had decided to unlock a volume module, though I hadn't had the chance to check out what new things I could create using it.

I had tried using Physical Hacking on one of the archaic PCs at my school when no one was looking. The hacking failed, but it did go up a level, so I considered that to be a success.

Sighing, I opened up my skill tree.

 _[Current Level: 2_

 _Number of elemental skills required for Level 2: 12_

 _Number of elemental skills currently unlocked: 6]_

 _[Upgrades Available: 0_

 _Cumulative Level of elemental skills required to unlock next level: 75_

 _Current Level: 42 (From 6 skills)]_

 _[Level 1_

 _Control_ _1 __Volume_ _1_

 _Volume 2_

 _Level 2_

 _Control 2 Volume 3_

 _Control 3 Volume 4_

 _Level 3_

 _Control 4 Volume 5_

 _Control 5 Volume 6_

 _Control 6_

 _Control 7_

 _Level 4_

 _Control 9 Volume 7_

 _Control 10 Volume 8_

 _Volume 9_

 _Volume 10_

 _Volume 11_

 _Volume 12_

 _Level 5_

 _Control 11 Volume 13_

 _Control 12 Volume 14_

 _Control 13_

 _Control 14_

 _Special Skill 1_

 _Special Skill 2_

 _Special Skill 3]_

I had a really long way to go.

" _And I am stalling…"_ I thought. My last foray into the Illusion Barrier had been a disaster, and thus I found myself reluctant to actually enter one.

I took a deep, calming breath, an opened the barrier.

This time, I would get out as soon as it was cleared.

* * *

 _[_ _ **EAPR**_ _has gone up by 1!]_

 _[_ _ **EAPR**_ _now fires 3 bullets per cast!]_

After seventeen cleared Illusion Barriers, my level had gone up by one, and after spamming EAPR a few thousand times, it had gained about seven levels. My Sword Mastery also leveled slowly, which I assumed was because I wasn't doing anything more than bashing them over the head with the Katana.

The Ward Keeper hadn't made another appearance, which served to calm me down significantly.

It was becoming clear, however, that the diminishing gains were now stunting my growth, and that I needed to fight against higher level opponents.

However, creating higher level barriers just hunted out the areas quicker, with the total EXP gain being more or less equal.

I did create a new skill though.

 _[_ _ **Magnetize**_ _(Lv 1)(Active): Magnetizes a conducting material by passing current through it in loops. The degree of magnetization is proportional to the volume of current passed]_

The first thing I had tried to do was to magnetize my own body, and pull a piece of rebar towards me. It caused me damage over time, and the current wasn't high enough to pull the rebar towards me. When I tried with sand, all I got was a useless blob. Trying to shape the blob gave me a message that a higher level of control was needed.

" _Ugh so I have to grind my skills to a high enough level that I unlock more of the skill tree before progressing to the next level huh."_ I thought, disgruntled. Thanks to time not passing within the barrier, all of this had taken me a little more than half an hour in real time.

I sighed, and went back home, disappointed with the results of my little excursion.

* * *

The next couple of weeks leading up to the summer vacation were a busy time, where I had to balance taking care of Index, studying for my term exams and completing the trainee quests with Frenda.

I also managed to hunt out a few more areas, with no real gain to my stats other than a point each of VIT, STR and DEX. My intensive study in preparation of exams whose portions were completely unknown to me gave another couple of points of INT.

In a flurry of activity, the term came to an end, with me having gained about ten thousand credits on the UTN after finishing my quest series with Frenda uneventfully. They all ended up being long walks with nothing much to do other than talk.

In one of those conversations, I found out that the UTN also gave out Money Cards for people who didn't have enough money in the network to justify laundering it all out. It was justified under a private charity who gave out extra help to the less skilled students in Academy City in the form of economic handouts to subsidize living costs and extra esper development programs.

To me, it sort of cemented the idea that the UTN was more or less unofficially sanctioned by the Academy City management.

Thus, to celebrate the end of the term, and me completing my trainee period with Frenda, I took Index out for dinner at one of the many family restaurants that littered Academy City.

"So Index. What do you know about the non-Christian magical cabals?" I asked, as we ate dinner.

Motoharu had been quite evasive when I asked him the same question. He gave me non-answers, basically saying that he would take care of it and not-so-subtly told me to shove off.

It wasn't information I needed to know after all.

Index gave me a look over her meal.

"Hey, I need to know more if I need to protect you, and I have basically been leaving you at home alone, depending on Academy City's border security and my anonymity to protect you from those who would seek you out" I said, hand raised.

She rolled her eyes in response. "I can't really tell you more, because I don't really know. I do know that Christian Mages form almost 95% of the mage population, either due to religious intolerance or invading mages destroying local mage populations. The Christians are the only ones to have a system to both spread and limit the knowledge of magic in the world. There shouldn't be any other cabals unknown to the church, which is why the attack on me is worrying." She said. "besides, I haven't been idle, I have set up a few magical protections at home."

My eyebrows went up at that. "What magical protections? And why didn't you tell me?" I asked.

"Because I don't want you to accidentally negate them with your Right Hand of Blatant Cheating" she replied. "They are in places out of your reach, and you would need years of study before you could even begin to understand them."

I shrugged. "I really doubt that. I can probably absorb the knowledge of the book like I did for my skills."

Index scowled at that. "Which doesn't make sense. Your hand should _not_ allow you to have powers like that."

I just shrugged again. I was quite curious about that myself, and had spent quite a few nights with Index going through the newly unlocked knowledge in her head searching for answers.

Not that we found any.

I was distracted by the strong smell of stale alcohol coming from the booth in behind of us. I looked around to see a guy trying to chat up the lone girl sitting there.

A girl in a Tokiwadai Uniform.

" _Oh God, the guy has a death wish_ " I thought with a snort as I watched the inebriated man try to make a pass at Mikoto.

* * *

I was so tired.

I had tried to tune out the drunk guy making a pass at me, a not too uncommon occurrence unfortunately. Usually, I would just let a few sparks play and let my reputation do the rest, but I just wasn't in the mood to scare him off.

" _Can't have one bloody meal in peace…_ " I thought grumpily.

"Why hello there, Misaka!" A bright, cheery and familiar voice called.

I looked up to see Kamijou, Index behind him, walk into my booth, causing my mood to drop further.

I had been studiously avoiding the two, though that hadn't been particularly hard. Kamijou seemed atrociously busy, and Index hadn't fully mastered the use of the texting app on her phone. And I really didn't feel like faking a good mood for them.

"Hey, what's the big idea" the guy slurred, attempting to block Kamijou's entry.

He rolled his eyes, and said "If you know what's good for you, scram."

The guy started to puff up like a peacock, causing Kamijou to release an exasperated sigh, and grab the guy's arm.

He instantly started convulsing, and then fell down in slightly smoking heap.

He then casually sat down, ignoring the stares of the rest of the shop.

"Was that really necessary" I deadpanned.

He just shrugged, much to my irritation.

"'Twas satisfying though" he said, smirking slightly. He then gave a me a critical look. "What have you been up to? You look like….. well, lightly warmed up shit"

"Exam season" I grunted, wanting this conversation to be done as soon as possible. I had to get to the next lab.

"Aren't the exams over?" Index asked.

"That was today. I still haven't recovered" I replied.

"Go home and sleep" Kamijou said, a worried frown on his face. "Why would exams stress you enough to have visible dark circles under your eye, I _know_ you are bloody prodigy!"

I cursed internally about forgetting to put make up before getting out.

Then again, I hadn't expected or wanted to run into anyone I knew.

I sighed, and said "The tests aren't standardized at Tokiwadai. They are tailor made to a student's level. I am doing Laplace transforms and their applications in system modelling in math right now." She replied.

Index looked confused, while Kamijou's eyebrows climbed higher.

"That's university level stuff." He said.

I nodded. "They like to push us" I replied. I didn't mention the fact that even high level math was usually a breeze for me.

I absently noted that the passed out, smoking man was being dragged out of the shop by a couple of the male waiters while finished the last of my meal.

"Do you have any plans tomorrow? I feel like I haven't spent time with you in forever. It doesn't help that you quit the party." he said, giving me a dirty look.

"Ahh… maybe not tomorrow. In a few days maybe?" I said. I still had quite a few more facilities to shut down. I had more time so I intended to have it done by the end of the week.

"I will hold you to that" giving me a mock scowl. "Besides, we have to update you with the new information we have uncovered about our mission" He said, eyebrows raised suggestively.

"Mission?" I asked, confused.

Both Index and Kamijou gave me incredulous looks.

"Are you sure you are alright?" Index asked this time.

It took me a few more seconds, but the tube light finally lit up.

"Oh. Ohhhhhh! Yeah. Heh." I coughed, embarrassed. It really wasn't like me to forget something as massive as Index's situation.

Both Index and Kamijou continued to stare at m.

"Will you quit doing that! I was distracted, that's all!" I said, feeling my face growing warm.

"Yeah…I can see that.." Index said.

"What we are wondering is what exactly could distract you so completely from something that's… well so big?" Kamijou said, the sentence curling into a question.

" _If only you knew…"_ I thought.

"I take exams really seriously" I deadpanned.

Index and Kamijou exchanged a look and then continued to stare at me.

"What?" I barked, sparks starting to escape my control as I felt my face grow even hotter.

Kamijou-san's gaze suddenly lost focus upon me, while Index's stare seemed to intensify to compensate.

A few seconds of awkward silence later, Kamijou clapped his hands, startling both me and Index.

"Since Misaka here is so wound up by the 'exams', we are going to help her unwind!" Even though he didn't roll his eyes, I could feel exasperation he felt with me.

I pretended not to notice, and instead raised an eyebrow at him.

"We are going to this place!" he said, slapping a pamphlet down in front of me.

My eyes fell upon the pamphlet, which detailed the opening of a new gaming arcade somewhere in district 7, and a minor arcade tournament

What was special though, was the prize.

I snatched the pamphlet from the table, and scanned through it again.

I looked up to see him wagging his eyebrows exaggeratedly, gauging my reaction.

I couldn't help the grin that bubbled up to my face, nor the anticipation that shone through my eyes.

I pushed away the voice telling me I didn't deserve friends like this, and that I had so much more work to do.

I really did need to destress.

"Let's go!" I said, and then proceeded to demolish my meal at speeds that would do Index proud.

* * *

 _[_ _ **Mikoto Blues!**_ _]_

 _[As you have noticed, Misaka Mikoto is massively stressed for unknown reasons (exams? Feh!), and seems reluctant to share her reasons. Cheer her up successfully, and try to discern the reasons behind her unnatural stress levels._

 _ **Rewards**_ _: Quest continuation, 5000 EXP, Increase in relationship with Misaka Mikoto.]_

I blinked at the sudden quest. While I had noticed that Mikoto was not being entirely truthful, I had not expected a quest to be generated off of it.

" _Or it could be the Kami quest screwing with me_ " I thought darkly, before shrugging it off. I had the perfect thing for it anyway, something that had literally been pushed into my hands on the way here.

" _And my LUK is supposed to be negative_ " I thought, mentally snorting, before slapping the pamphlet for the new gaming arcade with a Gekota plushy as a daily prize as a part of the opening event.

I was subsequently horrified at the speed at which Mikoto proceeded to demolish her meal.

* * *

Later that night found me prowling the streets in my generic mask, on the way to my first client unescorted by Frenda.

My runs with Frenda had given me a fair idea as to how much time it took to complete a delivery, and figured I could do three or four a night, if all the deliveries were clustered in a relatively small area. There seemed to be an abundance of these sorts of small time delivery jobs, which while good for me, made me wonder just why so many people needed anonymous delivery services.

Tonight though, I was doing only one. Given that it was my first solo run, I figured it would be prudent to be cautious, at least initially.

While I was cautiously making my way through the back alleys however, the rapid of approaching footsteps caught my attention.

" _Someone is …..running?"_ I thought. It was well past curfew.

To be fair though, it was quite likely that the guy was running from Mikoto given her habit of staying out late when she felt too cooped up in the dorms.

I shook my head in exasperation, and then continued on my way.

When I took the next corner, and stepped in something wet.

I cursed. The shoes I was wearing were just my canvas shoes from school, something I had chosen because they were so generic.

Whatever I had stepped in wasn't water though, as I could see the color of my shoe changing, though in the poor light I couldn't make out what it was.

I looked down at the puddle, and froze in shock.

It wasn't a puddle of water.

It was a puddle of blood, leading up to the body of a person lying face down on the ground.

I stared at the body in shock for a few seconds, before snapping out of it and kneeling down next to the person, intent on administering at least a little bit of first aid before I called an ambulance.

I turned over the body and nearly puked at the sight.

The person's face had been horribly mutilated. It looked like every single blood vessel along the person's face had been ruptured, leaving bloody tracks. The eyeballs seemed to have burst under the pressure, leaving a horrific mess of blood leaking from the eye sockets.

Swallowing the bile that rose against my throat, I put my hand on the person's chest, dimly noting from the softness that I felt that she was a female, and felt for a heartbeat.

Nothing.

 _[A quest has been created!]_

 _[_ _ **Dead Men Tell No Tales!**_ _]_

 _[Through a complete coincidence, you have found a horribly mutilated body of a girl in an alley of Academy City. Search for relevant clues on the person, and find the culprit behind this horrific crime.]_

 _[Rewards: 25000 EXP, Quest continuation.]_

I took another deep breath, and glanced once more at the body. I studiously avoided her face, and looked lower down. I noted that she was wearing a Tokiwadai uniform. I looked lower, and saw something purple jutting out from under her skirt….

I lost the battle with my nausea at that point and puked.

 _[Due to high levels of mental stress,_ _ **Gamer's Mind**_ _is now in_ _ **Active**_ _mode!]_

I dry heaved a little more, and took a deep breath. I noted the metallic scent of blood heavy in the air, and looked at the body once more.

I was completely out of my depth here.

I opened up the phone menu and cursed.

No signal.

I frowned, an pulled open the UTN. That too had no signal.

I looked at my shoes. While they weren't soaked through yet, they would definitely leave tracks.

I carefully removed my shoes, making sure I didn't step in the blood, and stepped out of the alley so that I could get a signal to make the call.

As soon as I got to the main street, I got a signal on my phone, causing me to sigh in relief. I then dialed the emergency services number

"What's your emergency?" came the voice across the line.

"I have a dead body" I said calmly.

There was a pause across the line.

"Could you repeat that for me?" came the shaky reply.

I took another deep breath.

"I have a dead and badly mutilated body in front of me. I came across it while on the way for my first delivery. It seems to be a female, and judging by the uniform, a middle schooler." I said.

There was a deep breath taken, and the voice then turned professional.

"Standby at your current location. Your number is being traced as we speak. First responders will be on the scene in….approximately three minutes. Do not cut this call."

"Understood" I said. "I was not able to get a stable signal at the location where I found the body, and had to move a little away from it to make the call."

There was a pause. "Stay where you are. Our first responders will be with you in a couple of minutes. Guide them to the location of the body."

"Understood"

* * *

Three minutes later, on the dot, an armored van, the signature vehicle used by the Anti-Skill, and group of four officers in Body Armor stepped out.

"Are you the kid that made the call?" One of the officers asked me.

"Yes. This way please" I said, immediately taking the lead to guide the officers to the body.

Three turns later and I froze.

The body had disappeared.

The body and every single trace of it, including the heavy smell of blood, was just….

Gone.

* * *

 **Heh. Been wanting that scene for a while now.**

 **Mikoto is being edgy! All that left to do is for Touma to punch the edge out of her!**

 **This season of index...has been rather disappointing, to say the least. I read a few of the LNs...and the Battle Royale arc was so incredibly rushed. So sad.**

 **Anyway! Leave reviews! Also, since it has been a while, here is his stat sheet!**

* * *

[Name: Touma Kamijou]

[Class: The Gamer]

[Titles: The Taveller (Lv MAX)

Electromaster(Lv 2)

The Strategist (Lv MAX)]

[Level 12]

[EXP: 119100/1000000]

[HP 260/260]

[MP 516/516]

[STR: 13]

[DEX: 12]

[VIT: 19]

[INT: 22(67.6)+]20

[WIS: 15(42.9)+]18

[CHA: 12 (28.6)+]10

[LUK: 10(0)+]

[Points: 60]

[Money: 0¥]


End file.
